What would most aid WINE development?

Susheel Daswani sdaswani at boalthall.berkeley.edu
Sat Nov 19 13:16:41 CST 2005


Folks, here is another question:

The following excerpt is from the Microsoft antitrust trial's finding
of facts.  Some of what has been said in this thread hints at the
extreme position this finding takes.  That said, I can't believe that
members of this community believe the task is "impossible", otherwise
why would this community exist at all?  Here it is:

----------------------------
4. Cloning the 32-Bit Windows APIs

52. Theoretically, the developer of a non-Microsoft, Intel-compatible
PC operating system could circumvent the applications barrier to entry
by cloning the APIs exposed by the 32-bit versions of Windows (Windows
9x and Windows NT). Applications written for Windows would then also
run on the rival system, and consumers could use the rival system
confident in that knowledge. Translating this theory into practice is
virtually impossible, however. First of all, cloning the thousands of
APIs already exposed by Windows would be an enormously expensive
undertaking. More daunting is the fact that Microsoft continually adds
APIs to Windows through updates and new versions. By the time a rival
finished cloning the APIs currently in existence, Windows would have
exposed a multitude of new ones. Since the rival would never catch up,
it would never be able to assure consumers that its operating system
would run all of the applications written for Windows. IBM discovered
this to its dismay in the mid-1990s when it failed, despite a massive
investment, to clone a sufficiently large part of the 32-bit Windows
APIs.  [**44]  In short, attempting to clone the 32-bit Windows APIs
is such an expensive, uncertain undertaking that it fails to present a
practical option for a would-be competitor to Windows.
----------------------------

My belief (which opposes the 'fact' stated above) is that if there was
virtually complete documentation of what exists, and full disclosure
of additions and modifications, a cloning could be achieved.  Of
course it would take a huge capital and time investment, but the
payoff would likely be worth it.

Thoughts?
Thanks!
Susheel



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