This is an utterly insufficient answer to the allegation that you copied internal data structures entirely from the NT kernel, including (why?) their names.
Brushing this off as a free "PR campaign" only works if those NT programmers simply made everything up. That's possible, because we as the general public have no way of knowing. But it's hard to ignore that there are just two possible scenarios here, nothing in between.
Could you please clarify: If MS people say they do recognize verbatim code from NT in your source, are they lying? If they're not lying, what happened?
> This is an utterly insufficient answer to the allegation that you copied internal data structures entirely from the NT kernel
It's quite sufficient when you consider that, unless the allegation is made in a court of law, it's in ReactOS’s interest for it to be perceived as plausible. Being perceived as either an actual (if unauthorized) fork of Windows or as something that a Microsoft insider could reasonably mistake for one is not bad for ReactOS.
And if Microsoft is going to bring the allegation in court, no matter the merits, the lawyers defending ReactOS aren't going to want lots of detailed public statements to have been made first.
> Brushing this off as a free "PR campaign" only works if those NT programmers simply made everything up
It works and, I'd argue, is the only sane strategy so long as Microsoft isn't suing them. Because, among other reasons, without such a suit it is nothing more than a free PR campaign especially if it is true.
Admittedly, it doesn't maximize imaginary internet debate points, but while that maybe be OPs interest, it doesn't seem to be ReactOS’s. (Also, probably not Microsoft’s, who I imagine so long as they aren't suing ReactOS would prefer not drawing attention to it, either.)
I don't disagree with your assessment from a PR point of view, I guess I was just hoping the open source community would hold itself and others to higher standards. Being technically not provably guilty in a court of law is not exactly the peak of virtuousness.
Do you understand that
internal data structures entirely from the NT kernel, including (why?) their names != verbatim code from NT in your source
The program code is logic first of all.
For the similarities of names and structures itself - the answer is in this already mentioned video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D9ExVc0G10&t=9m53s from the 9:53 moment of time. TL:DW there are a lot of legal ways of obtaining names of variables, exported functions and structures
Never having had access to the NT kernel source, I don't actually know how deep these similarities go. When MS kernel engineers say those are not only superficial, I'm inclined to believe that until ReactOS have at least conducted an investigation.
It's a serious allegation that deserves more than a casual brush-off and some condescending statements about publicly available debug symbols. If MS is really full of shit, as I hope they are, they should be held accountable with more than a shrug and a smile. If ReactOS does contain copied code (and yes, that does include data structures as well as instructions), well then that should have consequences as well.
But how could ReactOS prove they didn't copy without having access to the NT source to show people differences? Unless there's some hard evidence, it shouldn't be up to the ReactOS team to provide evidence, but on the accuser.
Brushing this off as a free "PR campaign" only works if those NT programmers simply made everything up. That's possible, because we as the general public have no way of knowing. But it's hard to ignore that there are just two possible scenarios here, nothing in between.
Could you please clarify: If MS people say they do recognize verbatim code from NT in your source, are they lying? If they're not lying, what happened?