Re:ReactOS
by bencollier49 on Thursday October 15, 2020 @03:00PM
(#24792429)
Am I right in thinking they'll be sued into oblivion if Oracle win their case against Google?
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Re:ReactOS
by colinfinck on Thursday October 15, 2020 @05:05PM
(#24793939)
No. The project has no legal entity in the US.
Re:ReactOS
by bencollier49 on Thursday October 15, 2020 @05:47PM
(#24794483)
What about people using it in the US?
I think ReactOS is mainly being used by hobbyists, and I doubt Microsoft would want to sue hobbyists. Little commercial or financial gain, lots of bad press.
The situation is a little bit comparable to Hercules, the IBM mainframe emulator (although not quite the same – Hercules is of course a hardware emulator, ReactOS is an operating system clone). You can use Hercules to run z/OS, but not legally, IBM only licenses z/OS to run on IBM's own hardware, or authorised proprietary emulators that cost $$$$. Thankfully though, IBM doesn't appear interested in suing hobbyists – IBM treats the hobbyist community as if they don't exist. But, try building a business on Hercules, as the company TurboHercules SAS did, and IBM's lawyers will start sending nasty letters to you.