Freedows OS
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Freedows OS was an open source attempt at creating a MS-Windows clone for x86 platforms, intended to be released under the GNU General Public License, started in 1996 by Reece K. Sellin, an undergraduate Computing Science Major at the University College of the Cariboo in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. The name is a portmanteau of "free" and "Windows". The project was modeled on other cooperative attempts to build operating systems, such as Linux.
The project was never completed, getting only to the stage of design discussions which featured a number of novel concepts. These included a modular architecture derived from Stanford University's Cache Kernel that used plug-in components to allow running software from different operating systems, including software from other hardware platforms.
The project's intended features, combined with sizeable worldwide developer and alpha/beta-testing interest, resulted in difficulties in project organization and coordination. The project made little progress towards producing running code, and faced nearly constant redesign until a personal conflict split the project into two factions: Freedows (still controlled by Sellin) and Alliance OS (where some of the other developers had gone)[1] — neither has subsequently produced a finished product.
Development of Freedows was indefinitely suspended in 2002, but the development of ReactOS and E/OS, independent projects with similar goals, has reached a greater success. Freedows was notorious for being called vaporware during the years it was active.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ "Freedows splits". Slashdot. http://slashdot.org/features/980831/2231220.shtml. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
- ^ "Blog for chipx86". Advogato. http://www.advogato.org/person/chipx86/diary.html?start=134. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
- "A Student's Dream of Creating A New Operating System Encounters Problems". The Chronicle of Higher Education. 19 September 1998. http://chronicle.com/article/A-Students-Dream-of-Creati/103396/. Retrieved 2009-04-10.
[edit] External links
- Freedows SourceForge project, suspended
- The Project, SourceForge, The Future A message from Sellin, as the project moved to SourceForge
