ReactOS Has Been Steadily Improving As An Open-Source Windows Implementation

[NateHubbard]

Maybe they just need a business degree. I just wish they would 'get their s**t together'

Maybe they are doing this in their spare time and have actual jobs and lives outside of it.

Compared to all the other free Windows implementations, they are doing quite well.

[gukin]

Strangely enough, neither the live nor the install CD will work with any type of video in QEMU. Both versions hang with an "Unable to initialize video" error.

[hubick]

I see few benefits to the giant task of building your own kernel and runtime versus just a Windows-esque GUI on Linux with a Wine install.

[ThiagoCMC]

Very important things that are missing in ReactOS:

1- Ship it with VirtIO drivers, so it can be easily installed on VirtIO-SCSI (with TRIM support), uses VirtIO-Net and SPICE VDI Video Drivers (why not VirtIO-GPU as an option too);
2- Support for cloud-init, from cloudbase.it, so it would be possible to build ReactOS images for Clouds like OpenStack.

Today I have a Windows 10 Image that works flawlessly on OpenStack (QEMU and VirtIO Drivers) with cloud-init, the "C:" volume even grows automatically on its first boot! But I barely use Windows, so, it would be nice to move to ReactOS. I have Windows basically for MetaTrader 5 and Adobe PDF.

[eydee]

I'd so much love to play around with it, only not in a VM, but real hardware, so I could run benchmarks and stuff like that. I hope one day we see SATA/AHCI support, before it becomes obsolete. Current motherboards no longer support IDE emulation, so it isn't even an option. USB support too, as there are barely any motherboards left with PS/2 ports, especially 2 of them.

[ElectricPrism]

I see the difference between Developers & Users as

1. Expectations

2. Definition of Success

I'm honestly not sure if the developers ever had the EXPECTATION of creating a OS for mass consumption or not. (Seems like one of those "shoot for the stars" and not the ground type things)

And then, what is the Developers definition of success? Is it solving technical riddles & secrets of the source? Or are they interested in external recognition & praise? I assume the former.

My final thought is people really can't know how ReactOS has "serviced them" -- most people are for example not aware that the internet is heavily run by Linux -- so their ignorance of that doesn't mean Linux isn't important -- it just means their world view is malnourished of realities.

[woife]

Great to hear ReactOS is making progress, it is one of the projects that I keep an eye on

I just wish they would 'get their s**t together'

So a project to which you did not contribute anything does not meet your expectations?

1) Most of the progress so far has been done by people in their spare time.
2) Not every project has to be useful. If people like to spend their spare time on an interesting exercise that's their choice, not yours.
3) Just because it is not useful now, does not mean it never will. I remember the times when it was a miracle that wine could run WinZip on a Linux box ... ~15 years later and it powers AAA games.

After 23 years, they are still in alpha. I had a career as a software developer and retired in that time. I have a hard time taking them seriously - I prefer products that release in my lifetime.

I'm impressed. Please tell us more about all of your contributions to open source projects ...

[rogerx]

The big rhinoceros in the corner, upon the advent of the leak of Windows XP source code, if ReactOS mysteriously catches-up with MS Windows XP's performance and stability, might prove a significant threat for MS Windows 7 and MS Windows 10.

My feelings, I still have many Windows XP era hardware and devices relying upon the supposed dysfunctional XP operating system, and using MS Windows 7 or MS Windows 10 is not an option due to applications requiring only MS Windows XP.

[TheCanadianBacon]

Hmm, I always ask myself if all the reactOS is worthless.
Tzey should better use their skill and time for Wine.

Here's the thing, what reactos progresses with their work actually in turns helps out both the mingw-w64 project and wine project

[Firnefex]

If my only alternative is Windows 10 for creating Portal 2 maps, well, honestly I don't like the look of flat UI unlike Windows 7. I miss Aero Glass and the lack of preinstalled bloatware in Windows 7 compared to Windows 10.

You should try out LinuxFX, it looks just like Windows 10.