Versus Microsoft

The only one with the power to do it is google and they haven't.

>>45319070
You would need to have a linux OS that is comfortable to use (qt based GUI cuz muh thumbnails ang GTK a shit) and perfect ease of use with Windows shit. But it won't happen unless MS makes their office suite open or ReactOS gets more heavy development attention.

>>45319070
You mean Android and iOS?

>>45319131

OpenOffice.Org bby

>>45319138
this

>>45319138
>Java
No thanks, kiddo

>>45319070
>>45319169
>>45319107

Android

>>45319190
stop trying to force this meme

>>45319146
Most criticism I hear is that compatibility between openoffice formats and word fuck up formatting.

>>45319199

But android *is* a direct competitor to the Microsoft OS market.

Saying otherwise is like saying that x86 DOS machines were not a threat to the Unix workstation market.

>>45319214
I don't know many people that run android on their laptops...

(inb4 chromebooks, it doesn't count and it's small portion of the market anyway)

There is no point in making an operating system that does "what windows does", at least for profit. You already excluded the other big OSes, so if you want to build an OS better than Linux, OSX or Windows (in their respective niches), and want the big makers of software to support you have a hard road ahead

Also you are building it from scratch? Because you cant base it on windows

>>45319229
see>>45319131
ReactOS just needs more developers and interest.

It will happen when form factors coalesce and all that remains is smartphones and ultratabletbooks for most consumers.

>>45319229
> I don't know many people running DOS on their SPARCStation
> (inb4 PC's, it doesn't count and it's a small portion of the markey anyways)

>>45319070
>>45319228
Don't underestimate ChromeOS and Chromebooks, I can't stand them myself but in terms of the market they're growing fast.

>>45319257
sorry I meant
>>45319228

File: wine-logo.jpg (8KB, 250x216px) Image search: [Google]

8KB, 250x216px

>>45319070

I don't know. If it does happen, the only way a competitor could threaten them is by leveraging Wine or a similar compatibility layer. If a large company started throwing some serious money behind that, it could become a real threat to Microsoft. Companies like Canonical and Red Hat have probably avoided this for legal reasons but if someone can figure out a way to do it, it would seriously fuck them up.

If Apple released OSX to the public Windows and Microsoft would be dead in a month.

Microsoft seems terrified of GNU/Linux, so I say it already has one.

It's just sad that MS still rules the preinstalled OS home market and have planted in the minds of ordinary users that Windows = The One And Only OS so that their illegal monopoly hasn't made them a pathetic footnote in history like they should have been years ago when even OS/2 was kicking the living shit out of them.

It depends on the market. Enterprise IT is an obstinate beast, it will be years before anyone comes close to challenging Window's domination in that field. For consumers? You bet. It's already kind of happening with Chrome. With the evolution of form factors and ultrabooks and tablets replacing desktops and laptops even Android and iOS are cutting in on former Windows turf.

>>45319310
Wouldn't happen. As the code would need to be made to support hardware that is not specific to their company. It would take years to do.

>>45319284
>>45319239
I don't believe that clones and win32 compatability will be what trumps Microsoft in desktop OSs. I think it'll likely be a slow shift to something entirely new, slow enough so that normals won't be lost without their MS office and such. It seems that things like reactOS and WINE would just be life support for a paradigm starting to become old and crusty. There would have to be some significant thing about it, not just "it sorta runs photoshop and looks like a bootleg windows"

>>45319346
>Enterprise IT
Yep, it's really a shame. I tried to recommend better computer courses for education and brought up linux...he stopped me there and all I heard was garbage from him.

>>45319391
Sorry, it was for a college professor I talked to. I'm kinda out of it ATM.

Android. Computing will move to tablets and phones for the vast majority of people. Deal w/ it.

>>45319379
Yeah that "entirely new" thing is smartphones and tablets, it already happened and microsoft got their ass kicked. But people still use windows anyway cause turns out there is still a market for desktop PCs and business laptops.

>>45319436
From one shit OS to another (and no, other tablet/phone OSes aren't any better). Wonderful. Why do people make bad technology choices? Dumbfucks.