BleepingComputer.com: What is this OS

I came across a machine with Win XP Ultimate by Johnney installed. What is this.? I dont seem to be able to find any articles on it, except for torrent downloads. Microsoft did not make it I hear. Who is Johnney?
Some say its an illegal OS but its installed on a legit PC whose owner has a license and runs updates on a regular basis. Also when I go into properties it is displaying a genuine version of OS present. Is it just a program that gives XP some more features to make it look pretty..or is it an actual operating system?

It looks to me as if it could be a few things. The two most obvious that jump out at me are either that it is one of those programs that was created by the machine owner to make it look nice, or it could be illegitimate. You can never tell. Or maybe there was some custom scripting going on. People (like me), do some weird things when they get their hands on scripting languages.

It is a variant of windows XP that has the reliability and compatibility of windows xp with some of the features of windows vista, like the aero interface and the windows sidebar. It is a legitimate OS designed by someone who got tired of vista but didnt like the features, and free, however, it is illegal. Yes, the license keys are there, but if you look closely on the license on the computer it will either have one of the xp variants or vista variants on it, it wont say windows xp ultimate unless the person giving you the computer gave it to you. What it does do however, is since it is a mix of the two OSes what the writer did was keep the activation process in there, (unlike most other pirated OSes) so that you have to already own a copy of either xp of vista, you simply enter your xp or your vista key into it, and to microsoft at least, it looks legitimate. It is however illegal (even though the owner doesn't state it on his site) and its a download and use at your own risk, as is (the writer does state that on his site). And while he claims its virus free, it is just as susceptible to viruses as any other windows OS as it is still the windows operating system, just tweaked. Ive read mixed reviews, some people have issues with it, some people don't.

Like I have stated, this is an "illegal" operating system, however, the original owner obviously had a legal copy of windows at some point, (unless he downloaded a pirated copy of this OS, which would be hilarious) but if he doesnt have it, well, doesnt mean the computers bad. I wont recomend using it, it is illegal, and since it was made by one guy without much support, (there is some for it) there is likely to be bugs in it (on top of the windows bugs) but it in itself is not a virus that will destroy a computer. In my opinion, its not a bad idea what the guys doing, but it is illegal (microsoft definetly doesnt encourage this sort of experimenting, unlike linux) and theres no garentees on its working.

Illegal activity is a breach of the law, and should never be supported!

That is all I think about it, anyway.

I agree matt, which is why I did not link to the owners page nor recomend that it should be used, I was just explaining what it is. In my opinion, users should be allowed to modify windows like this-however, it is not allowed. This is one of the reasons I am such a fan of linux, because linux is opensource you are allowed to, by law, modify linux to suite whatever need you wish, and have every right to do so (excluding any proprietary software included in the linux distro) but if say, you want to write your own code to make your ubuntu flavor to have a facy sidebar with a power usage meter or write in your own code to make your ubuntu look similar to windows, you could, legally. However, Microsoft didnt release the source code and copyrighted their material making it illlegal for users to make such modifcations, so did apple with macintosh. Do I think its right for them to do so? no, especially not with windows, however it is their right to do so, and it doesnt make it right for us to break the law, 2 wrongs dont make a right.

Though, if microsoft is reading this, I would be much more willing to spend money on your operating system if you did release the source code, that way we could not only modify, but also fix any bugs in the system, legally, and doing so would make it a much better OS. After all, linux has bugs to-it just gives users the ability to more easily repair them.

Very interesting. Thanks for the research and lesson Patriot.

Very good answer.

the_patriot09, on Jul 4 2010, 03:18 AM, said:

I am a big fan of Linux - I have it installed on this machine along side of Windows. As a matter of fact, I use Linux for serious work, and I use Windows primarily for playing games. Do you, by any chance, use Ubuntu?

I have in the past used both ubuntu and kubuntu as a primary OS on my second computer, and I use a ubuntu Live CD for computer repairs (diagnostics and backing up files off of a virus infected computer) Though Im more of a OpenSuSe fan, which is what Im using right now. I like how user friendly Ubuntu is, but I find OpenSuSe to be a more powerful OS with more built in features that suite my needs better.