DOS ain't dead

This maybe on the edge to mention this here and censor will delete this but you might noticed a fresh source code leak from MS in recent days. There's floating a torrent that contains total 43GB (most of GBs not important but...) and it contains newly the sources of WinXP SP1 and W2k3 server. Also there are older sources of Win2k, NT 4, 3.5, CE3-5 and MSDOS 3.3 and 6.0. Could be interesting for devels, now you can look at the source intead of disassembly :). Someone on Winraid forum already tried to compile XP but found that some parts like winlogon are missing :( Also to mention that SP1 was quite crap and too old, SP2 brought significantly more stability and safety. Maybe MS did it intentionally to terrify the small rest of XP users forcing them upgrade to 'better and safe W10' baceuse evil hackers will now find a bunch of exploits for XP... :)

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DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.

> This maybe on the edge to mention this here and censor will delete this but
> you might noticed a fresh source code leak from MS in recent days. There's
> floating a torrent that contains total 43GB (most of GBs not important
> but...) and it contains newly the sources of WinXP SP1 and W2k3 server.
> Also there are older sources of Win2k, NT 4, 3.5, CE3-5 and MSDOS 3.3 and
> 6.0. Could be interesting for devels, now you can look at the source intead
> of disassembly :). Someone on Winraid forum already tried to compile XP but
> found that some parts like winlogon are missing :( Also to mention that SP1
> was quite crap and too old, SP2 brought significantly more stability and
> safety. Maybe MS did it intentionally to terrify the small rest of XP users
> forcing them upgrade to 'better and safe W10' baceuse evil hackers will now
> find a bunch of exploits for XP... :)

re: "...forcing them upgrade..."

I would not put it past M$ to have done exactly that.

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http://glennmcc.org/

> Maybe MS did it intentionally to terrify the small rest of XP users
> forcing them upgrade to 'better and safe W10' baceuse evil hackers will now
> find a bunch of exploits for XP... :)

I don't think that group even registers on MS' radar, since there is not much revenue to expect there.

While new security issues found in current versions using that old source is a real problem.

So that theory is IMHO extremely doubtful, and a tad paranoid.

> > Maybe MS did it intentionally to terrify the small rest of XP users
> > forcing them upgrade to 'better and safe W10' baceuse evil hackers will
> now
> > find a bunch of exploits for XP... :)
>
> I don't think that group even registers on MS' radar, since there is not
> much revenue to expect there.
>
> While new security issues found in current versions using that old source
> is a real problem.
>
> So that theory is IMHO extremely doubtful, and a tad paranoid.

Just because we're paranoid, does not mean that they're not out get us.

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http://glennmcc.org/

> Just because we're paranoid, does not mean that they're not out get us.

Gotto find a way, a better way, a better waaaay!

Don't take this the wrong way, but with all due respect, what good is this? Who would even pretend to care? We have so many sources available already, we don't even have time to study what we have!

Even ignoring my favorite OS, FreeDOS (needs BIOS/CSM), there's also Linux with WINE (e.g. Zorin OS, based upon Ubuntu), which is quite good and stable. Various companies officially sell Linux laptops nowadays, so no need to install it yourself or worry about hardware compatibility (firmware, drivers).

I'd personally be also more interested in some kind of ARM-based Chromebook that would run QEMU x86, just to see who well it works. Several of those exist, too.

That also reminds me of the (Qualcomm? Snapdragon?) Windows ARM "always on" laptops: ARM 64-bit OS and drivers but with 32-bit Win32 (up through SSE2) userland compatibility via emulation. It even emulates DirectX 9 through 12, IIRC. (Probably not DOS stuff, I doubt they care.)

Windows still has 80% marketshare, and people are too heavily entrenched / stuck with it due to incompatible software, old habits, and other silly reasons. It's not "bad" to use Windows, but we shouldn't be this heavily tied to any one tech (especially when everything is so brittle and doesn't fully last). But I guess nothing is perfect, and "standards" don't always last long either.

"Just use Linux." (And emulate FreeDOS for fun, if you don't have a BIOS/CSM.)

Yeah, paranoid d3$+rUc+10N! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC2wXul3Adg

/Don't take it too seriously/

For orhodox linux and dos users this event does have any meaning but for others it might be interesting to look inside deepest windows internals, e.g. for ReactOS, Wine, maybe even hxdos devels and others. Also there are ms-dos 6.0 sources, I don't know if they had leaked before...

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DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.

Not counting this Dell Chromebook (Linux-based, obviously), there are several full GNU/Linux laptops that look intriguing (e.g. StarLabs or System76's Lemur Pro). GNU would recommend an older refurbished one (Respects Your Freedom). Those usually come with an ultra-free (Linux-libre) distro like Trisquel, which just had its 9.0 release (loosely based upon Ubuntu LTS). FYI, it optionally has a 7.1 GB source DVD download. Funnily enough, they have several editions, including a very lean, cmdline "net install" .iso (only 42 MB). Trisquel still (also) supports 32-bit unlike Ubuntu (and Lubuntu, which already dropped i386 but is still barely supporting it for another year for 18.04.5).

Modern computers all have problematic issues (Intel ME or AMD PSP), binary blobs, microcode, firmware, closed BIOS, or graphics or network cards (especially WiFi) that aren't well supported (fully, if at all). It's apparently very hard to get a 100% Free/libre machine. (Apparently AMD graphics are poorly supported for totally Free/libre systems.)

A fully Free/libre Linux distribution cannot include any proprietary software nor link to any directly. While my laptop can't use it with WiFi, I did successfully boot Trisquel "live" atop USB jump drive on my wired desktop. The Lite version had less software (Midori and AbiWord), but it seemed to work. I sent Eric Auer an email from it. You can also install extra software like NASM or DOSBox or Regina Rexx. The main full (MATE) version has Firefox (rebranded) and LibreOffice. Surprising to me, it didn't seem to include GNU Emacs (like gNewSense) but instead VIM (console only). It does also have support for .MP3 (unpatented nowadays), simple graphics files (GIF, PCX, etc.), and can read PDFs. I have no idea of the minimum RAM specs or cpu specs, but it's probably typical.

I know that's not saying much. Surely you have your reasons for using modern Windows. It's not easy to switch, and you knew most of this already. Just FYI, there are alternatives, even if imperfect. I almost wish we had a Chromebook (similar device) for FreeDOS. (There is "beta" Linux cmdline support on a Chromebook via QEMU/KVM with Debian, but I don't think it allows other OS images, sadly.)

I know about that but it doesn't run SW that I need for my work. I have multiboot including linux since (guess) 1997 (Monkey, Redhat and at last Debian) but it's just my toy, probably never be my primary OS...

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DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.