Submitted by ReactOS 0.4.5 has been released.
Thanks to the work of Katayama Hirofumi and Mark Jansen, ReactOS now better serves requests for fonts and font metrics, leading to an improved rendering of applications and a more pleasant user experience. Your continued donations have also funded a contract for Giannis Adamopoulos to fix every last quirk in our theming components. The merits of this work can be seen in ReactOS 0.4.5, which comes with a smoother themed user interface and the future promises to bring even more improvements. In another funded effort, Hermès Bélusca-Maïto has got MS Office 2010 to run under ReactOS, another application from the list of most voted apps. Don’t forget to install our custom Samba package from the Application Manager if you want to try it out for yourself.
seriously impression labour of love
and maybe one day a viable alternative that is way more secure against cyber threats .. and way less intrusive with ads and privacy violations
I hope this small seed turns into a massive oak tree
It’s a clone of XP…
Oh man, that just makes me wannacry…
Hmm? What are you implying? Because it (even if it were true) have nothing to do with the post you responded to.
If its true that its a clone of XP, then its likely to be just as insecure as XP was. Some of XP was bad by design, that great code can’t fix. But towards the end of the life cycle of XP, Microsoft unleashed a torrent of practices, policies, and technologies to reduce the security related bugs. It would be insanely impressive if recactos could accomplish that same level of quality.
…XP is probably one of the most insecure OSes still in daily use. That’s pretty much the whole reason for the UAC in Vista (which everyone hated) and also why Vista and 7 broke so many XP applications.
Oh, and Wannacrypt/Wannacry/Wannadrypt0r or whatevery you call it.
So yeh, XP is horribly outdated, the architecture is inherently insecure (from the days when everyone had admin privileges and no-one had heard of a sandbox)
The problem in XP is using Administrator account for everything. And the major problem is that Vista+ systems just bring in UAC instead of stop using Administrator for everything. It is like use raincoat to stay dry instead of go home.
Technically you are really never administrator on new versions of Windows until you regive yourself admin access.
You must be talking to the win32 API? Or how XP handles the Administrator account as default vs. a normal account because it will break many applications?
No, according to the kernel experts, Windows’ Kernel is impressive by design.
Windows will always have a broken security model if it based upon a question that equates to: “You will need full privileges to feck up your computer totally, would you like those privileges now?”
I wouldn’t say it’s a clone of XP.
Most of the kernel interfaces are based on XP so there’s a driver model to target, (otherwise you have a mish-mash of kernel APIs, which isn’t ideal for kernel code stability) but the OS itself is starting to move past XP both in its UI concepts and its usermode model as a whole.
There are some engineering projects running in the background to facilitate this.
Edited 2017-05-19 12:52 UTC
They are working on implementing the WOW (Windows on Windows) subsystem for different versions of Windows. On official Windows it runs 32 bit apps on 64 bit Windows, but it appears it should be just fine redirecting api calls to Windows version specific handling code.
Edited 2017-05-19 13:26 UTC
I just hope their WOW thunks replicate the “Win16 on Wine32 on Linux64” capability of desktop Linux.
That, combined with the classic theme, would make for a great way to legally build authentic-feeling retro-gaming boxes without having to track down old Windows install media on eBay.
(Thankfully, I still had my old Win98SE install media when a P133 showed up in a pile of retired AGP-era ~3GHz machines.)
Edited 2017-05-19 18:00 UTC
There’s not a lot of reason to do that. Their ntvdm is already very good for dos apps, and the 16 bit apps for Windows 9x usually only have the installer as a 16 bit extractor program. You could just use 7zip on the exe to extract the 32 bit files, but it’s still stuff made for Windows 95 and 98 so there’s no guarantee it would work anyway.
I agree, in the same way that Haiku isn’t a clone of BeOS.
But it looks the same, act’s the same, works the same and runs the same applications.
I think that’s pretty much a clone.
To support my claim: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ZX_Spectrum_clones All called clones, but not every machine is compatible with every other. It doesn’t need to be identical to be a clone. It just has to be close enough
Edited 2017-05-19 13:57 UTC
As usual, a bunch of tosspots come out of the woodwork spouting inanities, “its XP” &c &c.
These comments are irrelevant.
What is useful to note is that it is based upon Windows server 2003, aims to be driver and application compatible with windows 2003. It will be lightweight, open source and fully documented.
A modicum of investigation and some thought will allow you to arrive at this level of understanding yourself.
Whether it is based on Windows (desktop) XP or Windows Server 2003, I would be happy if it is compatible enough to install and run the device drivers for my camera, photo printer, plain printer, scanner, and audio/video capture devices from that era.
On top of this, if Google was ever releasing a ReactOS specific version of Chrome, then it would be approaching an ideal situation as this would allow to “run” these devices via the Chrome Remote Desktop App.
ReactOS is an impressive work of engineering, the guys behind it code it in their spare time and, although not having all the needed resources, their work is right there, working and getting better and better.
So, if we really really need those drivers to be running on ReactOS, we can code them by ourselves or donate money to the project to fund that development.
Otherwise, the only thing we can say to the ReactOS engineers is: Thanks.
Edited 2017-05-19 16:34 UTC
A lot depends on how well ReactOS is compatible with Windows XP/2003 for the driver interface(s).
What would be helpful is a “Devices Tested” page listing outcomes of installing/using the Windows XP/2003 drivers for the devices. Inputs would be from the community more than from the developers.
The point of ReactOS is you DON’T have to make a specific port for it. It will run the standard Windows apps
No offense dude, but its 2017. XP, Server 2k3, whats the difference? They are both like fossils at this point…
I’m not knocking the project, I just don’t see what difference your distinction makes.
It shows that people complain about things while not even reading about the project and its goals – _THAT_ makes a huge difference.
—
So you want the new thing all the time without thinking why? What API level support do you need from Windows 10 that server 2003 doesn’t provide?
Remember that we are talking about API/ABI and not features in general.
The same stuff that Windows XP doesn’t provider either? That was my point. WHY does it matter that it is based on 2k3 instead of XP, when they are virtually identical at the API/ABI level? They were released less than 2 years apart, and they are both very, very old now.
You make it sound like being an XP clone is somehow bad, but being a Server 2k3 clone is somehow good? It is the same thing.
Then perhaps you shouldn’t be commenting here. Go and do some research and your brain, in this regard, will benefit from it.
One thing we can’t easily cater for in a brief comment is a lack of knowledge – only you can do that.
yerverluvinunclebert,
I happen to think the reactos project has more merit than galvanash gives it credit for, but this kind of attack on him is uncalled for. Galvanash is a knowledgable person and contributes positively to osnews.
I really wasn’t trying to knock the project… The post I responded to originally, when parsed down to its bare essentials, says:
“Posts saying this is based on XP are irrelevant. Whats important is that it is based on Windows Server 2k3”
I really don’t understand what this means… I know of no significant differences between the two at the API level, so why does that distinction matter?
34. I want an o/s that does not complain and stop booting when I change the hardware beyond what it thinks should be in my PC.
Keep adding…
Edited 2017-05-20 17:31 UTC
I have no idea what you just said, or how it is related to my post…
galvanash,
The distinction doesn’t matter to me either. I’m trying to agree with Megol’s point that subsequent versions of windows haven’t really done too much to the windows APIs.
Certainly under the hood changes were made, if I recall there were technical limitations in XP’s kernel with SMP, SSD, etc, and upgrading to windows 7 made sense. But these were mostly kernel implementation fixes rather than changes to the userspace API. Windows 8 and 10 attempted to replace legacy applications with metro, but if you aren’t a fan of that then I don’t think there’s anything wrong with ReactOS’s userspace target even a decade later. Obviously the drivers could become a problem for modern hardware owners though.
Edited 2017-05-20 18:19 UTC
Cruel it may be,
Accurate it was…
yerverluvinunclebert,
I’m not going I am not going to debate this with you. Your ad hominem attack got the downvotes it deserved.
Good.
I am afraid I will have to step between blind condescension and knee-jerk praise by making a plea to the devs to examine the way in which their OS-specific bootloader works.
It doesn’t and it gives a bad impression.
I am not a geek, a developer or a programmer but I am a reasonably computer-literate person who has been installing alternative and hobby operating systems for the best part of 20 years.
I had wanted to give ReactOS a serious spin for some time. After admiring it in a VM I thought the time had come to try it out on bare metal (a PIII rescued from the kerbside and lovingly restored), giddy with the fun I was already having with my legit copies of Win98 and XP to create a retro gaming machine.
Not only was it difficult to remove the bootloader, even following the instructions but the installation completely screwed up my partition table, and necessitated the laborious process of starting from scratch again with the aforementioned other phantoms of Redmond.
I guess the aim of ReactOS is to be in the end a drop-in replacement for you-know-what. At the very least it is probably targeted at people like me.
Maybe the engineering is impressive, maybe we should be thanking the devs and doffing our collective cap but frankly, I am unlikely ever to take the system out on a date again.
Which is an enormous pity.
(Edited for typos)
Edited 2017-05-19 18:02 UTC
I think that ruling out the entire OS forever, because of a bootloader problem, is an overreaction. Isolated components like that are the easiest to fix (when they get around to it).
I would recommend checking it out once in a while in the VM, and waiting for news on the bootloader. (Or installing it on its own drive, of course.)
For my purposes, it’s not ready to replace my last Windows (virtual) machine, but it’s getting closer, and I can’t wait until it is!
I believe it’s not ReactOS problem, but every open source project out there. And i’m sure the reason isn’t like “let’s make something no one will like to use!”. The thing is, when you are developer you think with different priorities, and you look at the code differently. When programmer make his bootloader he had goals like, where to search data on disk, how to load them into correct memory address, make it run so it can boot up OS. When he finally made it on his computer then he just left it as it is, because for him work is finished.
In commercial projects it would go into testing for errors, checking GUI if it’s nice and understandable, checking how it will handle on different environments etc. In open source, there is no such process of developing. So you just get what programmer want to make, without any kind of work for ordinary users. Of course there are open source projects, that try to make things for average Joe, but as Linux shows, it is very hard to do, because whole model of projecting and making mechanism should from the beginning be concentrated on that. Without it, it is just patching to make things look like that, but under the hood…
Edited 2017-05-20 09:14 UTC
Perhaps if you had followed the instructions and had observed two things:
1. Understood the concept of alpha grade software. ie. Don’t install alpha s/w unless you expect problems.
2. Installed into a virtual machine as recommended.
When you have an object such as an Alpha grade o/s you would be wise to seek instruction before wading into the sh1t.
GRUB is much worse about destroying the Windows bootloader. UEFI has at least helped a lot in returning drives to a Windows only state.
1. Safe browsing in a virtual ReactOS sandbox (Firefox)
2. A platform for development using legacy environments (VB6)
3. A platform for widget desktop development and packaging (Yahoo Widget Engine)
4. A platform for graphical design (Photoshop CS ver 8.0 – the oldest and still the best)
5. A platform that I can theme fully without patching.
6. A platform that I can change the underlying o/s fonts, colours without the GUI denying me this capability.
7. A platform I can bundle and distribute with my own customisations – a Windows/ReactOS distro.
8. A platform that I can use multiple instances of for testing
9. A platform that I can build into any x86 computer by default.
10. No licensing restrictions
11. Full DOS gaming under NTVDM.
12. All/most older/current 32bit Windows apps should just function.
13. All/most older/current 32bit Windows drivers should just function.
14. Access to all legacy apps that stopped working under NT6+
15. Access to source code if required for bug-fixing or just for analysis.
16. Real support from a dedicated and growing ReactOS community, you can actually report bugs and obtain feedback!
17. Real support from the Windows community too for all apps/driver problems, at the very least for comparison purposes.
18. Documentation will exist for ReactOS, documentation is always good!
19. Escape from Microsoft’s eternal UI redesign – controls, options, everything are right back where I want them to be.
20. Freedom from forced obsolescence by design, being forced by MS to abandon useful software.
21. Freedom to use the o/s of my choice without abandoning all my prior knowledge and experience.
22. There are no restrictions with regard to functionality removed from the different home/professional versions, there are no crippled versions!
23. It is free of DRM restrictions.
24. Gaining an old and familiar desktop environment.
25. Gaining an o/s that is quicker to boot, much slimmer with regard to footprint, and much more efficient in operation.
26. It is free, completely! No licence costs for multiple servers. Multiple instances cost nothing.
27. ReactOS is open source. The code is reviewed by MANY eyes and bugs / security flaws are caught and fixed, rather than ignored and buried.
28. No metro apps that consume more resources than needed.
29. No unwanted telemetry that data mines your system and that saves bandwidth.
30. The ability to port an NT-compatible OS to other platforms, including hypervisors with paravirtualizing capabilities.
31. Ability to compile the source code and know how an NT compatible system actually works, or at the very least, get an idea of how it works.
32. Guaranteed no NSA backdoors.
33. Can run on many different types of filesystems, since NTFS hasn’t really been updated since XP.
Please add to the list.
yerverluvinunclebert,
Wow, you really gave that some thought, that’s a good list. However for the sake of discussion:
Even with open source software there is no way to “Guarantee no NSA backdoors”. Consider how the windows blue vulnerabilities this month were likely developed by legitimate microsoft employees, not the NSA. The NSA merely found holes in the existing code. That said, reactos is probably a low value target for the NSA, why invest the resourced to hack it?
The security value of open source is having the good guys looking for vulnerabilities. However the main caveat that has been borne out over the years is that not all open source projects are getting enough attention from the good guys. The heartbleed vulnerability confirms that even critical infrastructure projects will suffer when everyone uses the code, but few are investing resources back in.
I don’t really have an answer to this, I think it’s a problem for most open source projects, which is unfortunate.
Edited 2017-05-20 17:02 UTC
As long as it runs Caligari Truespace version 6.6 which runs on XP. I don’t give a crap what it can’t run. You people always wanting the latest software to run on everything are silly. WINE has the exact same problem. Too many idiots wanting to push for the latest APIs forcing the project to always stay one step behind and never gain real market share. WINE should have focused on DirectX 1-6 and core Windows APIs which haven’t changed from Windows 95/98. Then everyone using legacy software would have jumped to Linux. But no, instead there’s a half assed DirectX 11 implementation which will get finished when DirectX 13 or 14 gets released. Meanwhile I still can’t run the two pieces of software, which WINE partially implements on Linux, which should have had support added years ago. Forcing me to dualboot/operate with a crippled workflow. You are never going to be compatible with the latest Windows and AAA games. The best we can aim for is 100% legacy support for say Windows 95 – Windows 7 while 10 is out, and try to pick up everyone who doesn’t want to upgrade to 10. That could be one hundred million users if it’s done right. Chasing DirectX 11/12 support is a stupid waste of resources. It just gives people the impression wine is half finished and broken. Because it is half finished and the core hasn’t been implemented.
Edited 2017-05-20 23:44 UTC
People developing WINE mostly wanted it for games. Provide money or code, or shut up.
The best thing about ReactOS is that you can contribute, either in code, or money or by simply putting the word out.
If there is something you really need then you can put up a bounty and if the bounty is enough then a competent coder may well give you what you need.
ReactOS is already being used in anger. Single use applications that work are being run in work situations. It isn’t sensible but it proves that in a limited sense for specific applications ReactOS is a potential solution.
When it runs the individual apps that I want I will consider it ‘usable’. When it runs all of them at the same time without crashing I will consider it as my default o/s.
That’ll be a while but it IS getting there.
I have a standard test I do over the years.
1. Install in VM.
2. Try to install basic needed runtimes.
3. Try to install basic software
4. Try to install basic drivers.
I usually don’t get past step #1 without failure. Still, I try it almost every release. This needs to happen. NTFS support was weirdly stalled for a long time. Almost like the devs on XBMC where they wouldn’t improve caching.
Edited 2017-05-22 00:49 UTC
That should be expected. It is Alpha, expect NOTHING to work and you won’t be disappointed. When it does work you will then be pleasantly surprised. Don’t wait for the releases as they become obsolete immediately. Try the daily build downloads.
This is in response to expecting nothing from Alpha quality software:
It’s been unusable in any state for as long as I’ve known it. In any build.
Not giving up. Just stating my experience.
Edited 2017-05-22 19:52 UTC
Well it will be unusable, Alpha means unusable. It barely requires a mention except perhaps for those that don’t already know what alpha means. It won’t be usable even when in beta.
Bullshit. These aren’t strictly defined terms (they tend to vary even within a company) and alpha software may be more than usable in some cases.
Agreed.
Alpha was supposed to mean “private testing” while Beta meant “public testing”, but who follows that definition anymore?
The ReactOS team. They state that the o/s must never be relied upon, cannot be expected to work and any running of the o/s is for testing purposes only. Lower your expectations…
Bullshit – my arse. I reiterate my earlier comment about too many inane comments.
Edited 2017-05-23 21:53 UTC
AFAIK NTFS is still stalled… NTFS is proprietary so there will probably never be an open souce production quality driver. Which is why they are porting BTRFS as a native FS, it is probably superior to NTFS in many ways since NTFS is an early 90’s FS with many hacks to it over the years.
Just downloaded and installed this for the first time in around 10 years in VirtualBox.
What a difference a few year makes, well done to the devs!
There is some instability but nothing out of the ordinary for pre-release software. I will continue to evaluate this for quite a while, in fact I have a couple of old systems laying around that may get dug out tonight so I can install and try on real hardware.
Very pleasant surprise, well done!
Windows Subsystem for Linux accomplishes the reverse… running Linux binaries on Windows but surface area they have to implement is much smaller, just the Linux system calls.
I guess that approach was only possible because they’re able to use and include Linux userspace unmodified since it is free and open source.