u/TimeScarcity1949

https://preview.redd.it/8vu9loe4f3kh1.png?width=637&format=png&auto=webp&s=c29800a0388121434d232a4579bbae7d016b4095

I recently picked up a Lumia 1520. I bought it specifically because when I got into Windows Phones, I made the mistake of getting the 950 XL (I thought it was the "best one" since it was the most powerful, but it really isn't. The buttons started falling out and it only runs W10M).

With newReTiled, Live Store, MetroSurf, and a revived Windows 8.1 laptop or something (newReTiled, OctoStore Windows Store Patch, etc.), can I basically use the 2013 ecosystem as it was back then?

It's actually a distant memory. I used to own a 930 and run Windows 8 on my main tablet. I even adopted the OneCore dream with my 950 XL, Xbox One, and Windows 10 MacBook Pro 2015 (stilla great laptop somehow) back in the day.

I just want to know if it's possible to relive this or not. Any ideas?

I'm an open-source developer, and I am so confused with Sandboxie Plus, and really want to make things right.

For context, Sandboxie's core kernel driver engine was inherited and released under the GNU GPLv3. However, the current solo maintainer has wrapped the UI (SandMan.exe) and the user-space background service (SbieSvc.exe) in a custom license (LICENSE.Plus). They use this to artificially (no reason other than money) code-gate foundational sandbox mechanics like fine-grained path rule prioritization (UseRuleSpecificity) and interactive runtime access prompts, behind a ~$1,200 USD (1,000 euro) "Eternal Certificate." I'm not joking, this is real.

The developer has said before that "only 1% of people will donate" to try to justify this. To put into perspective how dumb this is, look at 7-zip or DonationCoder. Like, it's the ultimate proof that paywalled software should be left to actual enterprises.

If you don't pay, the user-space service literally intercepts your raw .ini configuration files and intentionally ignores your syntax.

To just put this into perspective, $1,200 is more than a commercial license for Windows 11 Pro itself.

When you buy Windows, you are paying a multi-billion-dollar enterprise with legal SLAs, corporate indemnification, and a massive team of engineers.

With Sandboxie-Plus, you are paying over a grand to a single independent developer with zero corporate backing, zero legal liability, no guaranteed uptime, and absolutely no warranty if a rogue driver bug BSODs your entire system.

Another thing, I feel slaping an "Open Source" badge on a project while deliberately crippling its configuration parser to enforce commercial SaaS pricing is an ideological paradox. It completely breaks the fundamental compact of FOSS.

Worse, it’s not even a true permanent purchase. Because of how the "Supporter Certificates" are structured, they are tied to specific build versions. If an upstream Windows Update breaks the driver, you have to update the software, and if your certificate tier has expired, your access to your own configuration features is revoked. You aren't buying software; you are renting a digital padlock from a landlord who can change the lock whenever they feel like restructuring the repo.

So, the legality behind this is fragile. I have a solution.

I want to restore a pure, un-throttled, community-first experience to this codebase, but I want to stay 100% legally and ethically safe against the developer's custom binary distribution rules.

Instead of hosting a pre-compiled fork, I am writing a localized automation build script (similar to a Gentoo or Arch AUR package recipe).

The script will:

Headlessly clone the official upstream Git repository.

Run a simple regex find-and-replace to patch the user-mode license evaluation functions to hardcode a true return value.

Call standard MSBuild to headlessly compile a clean, unrestricted version of the Qt UI and service binaries directly on the user's local machine.

Stop the local Sandboxie services, swap the binaries, and run them seamlessly over the officially installed, Microsoft-signed kernel driver.

By doing this, the user is the literal creator of the binary, meaning it constitutes legal "private use" under the repo's own custom terms. I want to put this script on GitHub with a single, massive, voluntary PayPal donation button on the README, proving that treating users like trusted collaborators rather than digital hostages is how you actually fund open-source development.

I mean, I want to be clear that I'm not some greedy bastard. If the developer wasn't making money off of it, that's kind of the point. Community contributions and donations should fuel development of open-source software. You're not really expected to make money off of it like a business.

So like, am I nuts? Calling all Windows Power Users here.

P.S, not asking anything legally. Just asking if you would like the tool, and if you agree with its cause to action.