That is an open source windows clone! Still in it's infancy, but wow! Open source rocks! Here is a little reflection on why I personally think software patents is bad. I have many ideas for enhancements of a lot of software produced by various companies. In fact, something like MSN was an idea I had before IM even became mainstream. When ICQ first came out, I had already imagined putting voice, video and text chat on one messanger. ( Yeah, you can ask friends of mine if you don't believe me. ) However, in the time of software patents, of course taking ICQ's ideas would have sent lawyers knocking on my door.

Fast forward to present day. Once again, there are many other ideas that I have brought forth to various other people. They of course involve hacking into Windows code, etc. (The actual hacking is not (currently?) within my area of expertise, but the ideas flow regardless ...) Imagine a windows on steroids. Or an IE that works properly! If Mozilla built upon and improved IE instead of having to rewrite Gecko from scratch, imagine where we'd be in terms of web browsing!

However, small companies such as Mozilla and individuals such as myself have no access to buy licencing from huge companies like Microsoft to test out an idea. No way can I afford to pay $1,000,000 to find out of my idea is actually feasible. I could build some software by myself or with a small team from the ground up. However, that takes a lot of time. Furthermore, looking at the state of Linux, and it's 100's of supposed patent infringments, is rather discouraging.

This did come to mind partly because I found the link to ReactOS, but also party from what I heard on the radio on my way to the gym. On the news, I heard that RIM was getting sued for patent infringment. Imagine if this happened way back when RIM was a small start up! The entire world of Blackberries, on which so many businesses depend, would never have come to be.

http://www.reactos.com/