DIGIT-ARC read-only archive · snapshot: July 23, 2026

Linux... An inspiration to Windows

13 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/linux-an-inspiration-to-windows.20052/

R
rattlecon Original post #1
Dec 9, 2005 at 3:14 PM
Hi everybody,
There are many instances where we have seen Windows has copied or borrowed :lol: features of Unix / Linux. If u have seen any similarities( which I bet u already did), however simple it may be, this is the place to share...
R
Dec 9, 2005 at 3:37 PM
One of the low-level changes is change in kernel. If you have noticed carefully, the Kernel of Unix/Linux is and was always in executable form. But this is not the case in Windows. Pointed by on of my friends, Mr Rama Krishna, Windows 3.1 had an executable Kernel. Since it was closed source, many tried to know the internal details of it. It was very easy to hack it. Open any debugger or hex-editor...and it is laid out.
Although Microsoft was beat there, it came back in form of Windows95. There was no formal way of getting it work, other than running the system. One more similarity is usage of DLL files. These are nothing but Shared Object .so files found in /lib. Exciting isn't it? If u find any more such "borrowings"....you know what to do.
J
jitun #3
Dec 16, 2005 at 12:21 AM
OK this is what I found.But i don't know who copied from whome.
*tinypic.com/in96kh.jpg
praka123
Dec 16, 2005 at 12:40 AM
Thats the case with KDE as this DE too is needed to woo idiot Wingdows users(no offense!) to GNU/Linux..after they will be accustomed to REAL DE GNOME :D
vignesh
vignesh #5
Dec 16, 2005 at 8:11 AM
Gnome is always better..
J
jitun #6
Dec 16, 2005 at 10:21 AM
OK people we are not here to discuss over a gnome vs KDE war.however leave it.Here i found something that is copied from open source browsers to Microsoft's internet explorer 7.0 Beta.I can't say about the future release.:?:

*tinypic.com/inuy9u.jpg
it_waaznt_me
Dec 16, 2005 at 2:21 PM
Hehe .. Vignesh's Avatar says:

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/images/avatars/145142500143a03c1ede21c.png

And he himself says :

Gnome is always better..

Oxymoron or what ..? .. :p

Btw @ Jitun, That menu is made to look like Windows' Context menu to make former windows users feeel at home ..

And refer to your last post, IE and Mozilla are working in partnership for some standards and hence common features are coming up .. The most recent is IE will feature FireFox's RSS icon .. Check this .. Read the whole thread for other IE Mozilla collabs ..
praka123
Dec 17, 2005 at 3:21 AM
it_waaznt_me: both KDE and GNOME are part of *nix DE.And regarding vignesh ,is there anything Like One can only Like One thing..eh/?Perhaps He liked both equivally..
it_waaznt_me
Dec 17, 2005 at 10:47 PM
Gnome is always better..
If I know anything about English, ^^ that one is a comparative sentence ..
And yes .. I know Gnome and KDE are part of *nix DE ..
GNUrag
GNUrag #10
Dec 20, 2005 at 4:08 PM
If you consider Windows XP's command prompt's filename autocompletion also,
Then yes they have copied shamelessly from bash.
Satissh S
Satissh S #11
Dec 20, 2005 at 5:48 PM
What abt the theory of user accounts and file permissions, wasn't it also copied from *nix and Linux?
T
Dec 20, 2005 at 11:20 PM
GNUrag said:
If you consider Windows XP's command prompt's filename autocompletion also,
Then yes they have copied shamelessly from bash.

Yeah.... but winxp cmd prompt is not as smart as bash.... If there are multiple files with same starting chars, winxp completes the filename with the first filename that begins with what we typed...
GNUrag
GNUrag #13
Dec 21, 2005 at 10:31 AM
Satissh S said:
What abt the theory of user accounts and file permissions, wasn't it also copied from *nix and Linux?
That may not be true.
There have been many Multi User Operating Systems apart from UNIX ... like VMS, Netware which have multiuser capabilities.