ReactOS

http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html

by ertug • 16 years ago

59 53 16 years ago

reactos.org

younata• 16 years ago

A free/Open source clone of the most successful virus ever created!</unix zealot>

Basically, these guys decided they legally wanted windows, but they didn't want to pay for it.</snark>

It's a cool idea, but, I'm not exactly sure on a) the legality of it and b) the usefulness of it.

mansr• 16 years ago

I don't think there are any legal issues here (but IANAL), and I can see a free Windows clone being useful to some people. However, Microsoft has a 25-year head start so these guys have some serious catching up to do. Until Microsoft goes out of business, I doubt they will ever have a system compatible with a current Windows version.

hga• 16 years ago

That would be OK by me: I'd prefer to keep myself and my parents at the XP SP3 level quasi-forever as long as the OS was supported (I myself an still using Windows Eudora as my email client).

Well, I suppose eventually Firefox el. al. will drop XP support, but that day will hopefully be far in the future.

rbanffy7• 16 years ago

> I don't think there are any legal issues here

Just imagine how many patents Microsoft will be compelled to use against this project if it ever becomes a perceived threat.

I am sure all MS's EULAs prohibit you from running Microsoft software on anything other than Windows.

etal• 16 years ago

It's handy for the same reason FreeDOS is handy -- eventually Microsoft will EOL the platform, but there will still be programs that you need to run (for whatever reason) that require that platform.

You're right that there's no point in chasing the most recent Windows version.

rbanffy7• 16 years ago

> but there will still be programs that you need to run (for whatever reason) that require that platform.

But why would that be better, or even preferable, over Wine on top of a Unix-like OS with current programs to run sde by side with your legacy app?

It's they project, their motivation, but I can't share it or understand why not devote these resources to make Wine better (or a better Wine, BTW). It's pretty obvious they are fairly bright guys.

I have to agree with the Unix zealot (I am probably one myself - Unix is a local maximum in the OS space, as eloquently illustrated by the failure of, for instance, Plan 9): of all OS concepts (and with so many exciting ones - like Plan 9) there are to be reinterpreted/reimplemented, why Windows?

coderdude5• 16 years ago

ReactOS is one of those projects that has been on the net for a long time. You see it resurface every now and then and each time it looks better than it did before. I have to hand it to the their team, they have tenacity.

VeXocide• 16 years ago

For others like me who are unfamiliar with the word tenacity: "The state or quality of being tenacious", which in turn is "Holding or tending to hold persistently to something, such as a point of view" or "Tending to retain; retentive".

coderdude5• 16 years ago

When I use that word I'm conveying "doggedness: persistent determination." (It's part of my Googled vocabulary.) Either way, it's certainly meant as a compliment. :)

LordLandon_• 16 years ago

https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mgijmajocgfcbebo...

I double-click the word, and get "If you have tenacity, you are very determined and do not give up easily."

volomike• 16 years ago

Prediction: ReactOS will be little more than an OS used for running Windows-less video games that were designed for Windows.

In the time spent fiddling with it, you could have just purchased and XBox and been done with it.

TomOfTTB• 16 years ago

Kudos to the creators for keeping at it. But in the end I don't see if being of much consequence.

If it ever does get out of Alpha and is viable than Microsoft will likely stop at nothing to bury it with lawsuits. They'd have to because it would be a free version of their core product that, by definition, wouldn't be susceptible to all the viruses and malware that Windows is.

So the bottom line is it could have a lot of useful applications but you really couldn't have enough faith in its future to use it for those applications.

calcnerd256• 16 years ago

Why wouldn't it be susceptible to malware? The fact that that question is even worth asking demonstrates that you've abused the phrase "by definition"

coderdude5• 16 years ago

I would say it could still be susceptible to malware since a lot of it gets installed on account of user stupidity, but anything that requires exploitation of a specific memory address will fail. Of course though, I think the latest version of Windows has protection against that as well by making it difficult or impossible to determine what addresses will be used when a program is ran. (Maybe, my memory of that is admittedly fuzzy.)

Daniel_Newby2• 16 years ago

Why would Microsoft care? Their revenue core is the shell, app frameworks, apps, not the kernel and a few system utilities. If by some miracle ReactOS manages to get major public uptake on the strength of kernel superiority, Microsoft can simply share in the fun.

thebigshane• 16 years ago

I'm no Microsoft-hater but that really doesn't sound like Microsoft.

csomar• 16 years ago

So what's the point of this Operating System? Kill Microsoft and the thousands of developers that are working their just because you don't like them or the name of the company?

Wouldn't this huge time and effort be spent on something we need but don't have? And yes, charge me for using it. I study medicine, but I won't work as a doctor for free.

dRother4• 16 years ago

You might want to look into the concept 'open source' and study the phenomenon known as 'linux'. It sounds as if you've never heard of either one.

memoryfault• 16 years ago

I think the term you wanted him to look up was 'free software'.

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.h...

jlcgull2• 16 years ago

You Sir, are a disgrace to the entire healthcare community. Hope you never manage to take the Hippocratic Oath as you will be breaking it at every chance you get. Enjoy your career as scumbag-of-a-doctor.

Yes, that is my opinion alone, but I do hold it strongly.

endtime• 16 years ago

I don't know what the guy you replied to was going on about with respect to Microsoft, but...seriously? He's a scumbag because he doesn't want to work for free? Do you perform your profession for free?

ComputerGuru• 16 years ago

I reviewed it back in 2006. It has not changed much since, though it has some graphics subsystem and USB improvements: http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/reactos-the-next-windows/

Screenshots of ReactOS (it BSODs too!): http://neosmart.net/gallery/album/view/os/ROS/

I'm surprised not to see mention of this though in the comments here: ReactOS is now "dead" as it is being rewritten to use the wine project as the actual codebase. The aforementioned slowness in development is the primary cause. The new project is codename ARWINSS: http://www.reactos.org/wiki/Arwinss

daeken• 16 years ago

It seems that ARWINSS is purely a replacement for a few userspace components (specifically user32 and gdi32, not that those are small by any means (having written my own implementations, my hat goes off to anyone who attempts it)), not the ROS kernel and all that entails. Am I incorrect here? The reason I follow ROS is that it allows compatibility with existing NT drivers, which is huge in my opinion, so moving away from the ROS kernel would be a Bad Thing (TM) in my eyes.

ReactOS

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