I couldn't imagine deploying anything that's closed source/non foss for anything serious. I know that windows is source available (if you have a 100k?+ contract...) -- but really - why would you risk your platform going away?
This isn't academic -- look at Sun OS/Solaris. Granted we have open Solaris etc... but that appears as an accident of timing more than anything -- in retrospect.
Now, for the more relevant part: ReactOS vs Windows: If all you want is the kernel/thread model I could see going with ReactOS (pending actual research, as in: does it actually work :-). If you're deploying SQL Server/IIS .net (pending the so far seemingly serious effort to open .net) -- I don't know why one wouldn't go with Windows, no. In that scenario you'd be beholden (good and bad) to Redmond either way.
But for something like a python fork -- I could see something like ReactOS (or any other alternate kernel) be an interesting thing. You don't need much from the OS -- just classic services: basic filesystem/persistence, perhaps privilege separation (not so important for micro-service vms), scheduling.
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I couldn't imagine deploying anything that's closed source/non foss for anything serious. I know that windows is source available (if you have a 100k?+ contract...) -- but really - why would you risk your platform going away?
This isn't academic -- look at Sun OS/Solaris. Granted we have open Solaris etc... but that appears as an accident of timing more than anything -- in retrospect.
Now, for the more relevant part: ReactOS vs Windows: If all you want is the kernel/thread model I could see going with ReactOS (pending actual research, as in: does it actually work :-). If you're deploying SQL Server/IIS .net (pending the so far seemingly serious effort to open .net) -- I don't know why one wouldn't go with Windows, no. In that scenario you'd be beholden (good and bad) to Redmond either way.
But for something like a python fork -- I could see something like ReactOS (or any other alternate kernel) be an interesting thing. You don't need much from the OS -- just classic services: basic filesystem/persistence, perhaps privilege separation (not so important for micro-service vms), scheduling.