ReactOS, the open source operating system which is compatible with Windows NT/2000 applications and drivers has been released.
ReactOS 0.2.2 Released
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
this OS is a big blow to microsoft. id still buy windows than use this though
this OS is a big blow to microsoft.
I don’t follow. Snazzy as it is, it’s not exactly very mature or capable ATM.
well its an OS that runs windows apps. I bet it will catch on quickly and progress faster than many will think. i guess microsoft will find a way to stop such things.
it installs fine but the video is all sqrewed up when it boots
Amazing how this project is progressing. It’s very nice to see how the merges of code with WINE really make a change.
“it installs fine but the video is all sqrewed up when it boots
”
Rename the driver VBEMP.SYS to _BEMP.SYS and it will work.
Also works in Mac Virtual Pc 6
Why is Eugenia always announcing releases before an official release has been made? Yes, they have uploaded the new release. But there is no announcement on their web page. Shame on you Eugenia.
Does direct-3d work? That’d be pretty hot if it did. Once linux has squarely beaten windows in usability, it’s still gonna have the compatibility battle, and it’d be nice to know i can dual boot reactOS instead of bending over and taking windows.
No. I mean, check it out. It barely runs. And it’s focusing on Windows NT compatibility. Windows NT 4 didn’t have DirectX (you could install it, but only some specific version, and it was buggy). But, since they are focusing on binary driver and application compatibility, if they can really pull this project, you only need to grab the latest DirectX from microsoft and install it on ReactOS.
They need now a website coordinator to keep up the webpage with the development, if you want to contribute check their homepage. On the other side, it works, when I ran Midnight Commander directly downloaded from Internet with no hacking it was great. They are working now in GTK applications (namely Abiword).
…open source Windows
it’s quite interesting to see how it progresses – i’m asking myself how more complete versions will compare in the speed question. i alredy ran it using qemu on my PowerbookG4 – but that’s not very fast (due to the i386 emulation) although it worked
for now it’s keeping NT4 compatibility, later on they are targetting XP (quite resonable if you think that NT4 is simpler to start with)
through this project i hope that also WINE will be going to profit
So go on ReactOS !
Since the site’s frontpage wasn’t updated with the link to the changelog for this release, you can see it here (scroll down):
http://www.reactos.com/en/content/view/full/279
ReactOS, while a good idea, may not work as well as we think since Microsoft is a huge zeophyte that is constantly working on their project while ReactOS is a project a few people are working on in their spare time. Sure it’d be nice to have an open source alternative to Windows, but if its taken this long for Linux to reach the point it has reached, how long will it take ReactOS to be a useable alternative?
I’ve just heard of React OS…i’m gonna check it out, but right now, the only good alternative to windows that I see, is BeOS. Linux is Next in line…when i first got into computers that first OS i heard was Windows(of course)…then Mac/Apple…and Linux…Then BeOS…and on and on……
I have tried several different OS’s and have decided that Windows Xp is the best..BTW: Microsoft is coming out with Windows Longhorn sometime soon…i’m sure it’ll be even better. BUT Windows still sucks! So…if you’re looking for an alternative to it…look at Lindows, BeOS, and Linux…All of those are built with a Unix Kernel i think. Have a good day!
–Haylo
When they can program for the O.S…..ON the O.S!
ReactOSs goal of NT compatiblity extends to all versions NT 4.0, 5.0 (Win2k), 5.1 (XP). They are not targeting NT4 exclusivly. It runs fine on my machine, apps crash after awhile, but really, its only ver 0.2.2. Wait untill 1.0 before you complain it doesn’t run. It will. BTW, ReactOS can be compiled on ReactOS (since 0.1.2 I think).
ReactOS, while a good idea, may not work as well as we think since Microsoft is a huge zeophyte that is constantly working on their project while ReactOS is a project a few people are working on in their spare time. Sure it’d be nice to have an open source alternative to Windows, but if its taken this long for Linux to reach the point it has reached, how long will it take ReactOS to be a useable alternative?
Well, unlike Linux, ReactOS aims to be binary compatible with a long used system, therefore most of the driver work has already been done. All they have to do is make their OS compatible with NT drivers.
Lets not forget all the code that they will be sharing with the Wine project, which I’m sure will provide a large chunk of the Windows APIs for ReactOS to build it’s userspace upon.
Coupled with the fact that NT (the kernel) was a saner architechture to grow into than is a Unix-like kernel, I’m sure that these guys will have little trouble (technologically speaking) getting to the point where Linux is now.
The changelog is actually located at http://www.reactos.com/en/content/view/full/3027
ReactOS is what it is today mainly because alot of the source code comes from the WINE project.
I read all discussions here, and thought I’d answer one, the reasonable one, by author named Haylo.
First of all you’re all right about that ReactOS is in early stage. But back in 1990 — who ever thought a simple terminal emulator will become a what Linux is today?
BeOS, Linux, and MacOS are all very good alternatives to Windows. But in a specific fashion, like Linux is very good (the best maybe) for network servers. MacOS (X most of all, I haven’t dealt with anything lower than 9) is good anyway and for any purpose, and also has the stability of the open-source Darwin kernel. Also good processor arch counts here, adding for performance. But Macs aren’t so spread as usual PCs, unfortunately.
As for ReactOS: It’s already long-time aimed to Windows 2000, not NT4. And amongst all the vast choose of OS, it is the only binary compatible with Windows! (except for WINE for sure, but it isn’t an OS). Not only applications, but drivers also. No else OS does so, and in this is the greatest advantage of ReactOS.
As for development time: If you look at ROS history, the speed of development only increases with time – we have networking coming soon, more real apps running under it, all this means new people joining the project resulting in even more progress.
Maybe some hardcore Linux-fans don’t want to see ReactOS living at all, since they think Microsoft is evil, and thus Windows is evil also. But that’s not true. Microsoft can be evil, but one should differ it’s technologies, and it’s company policy (which is bad in my opinion, but technologies are very good).
As for Windows Longhorn – still 2 years before it comes to market. By that time ROS will already support .NET applications, and a lot of Win32 apps and drivers. Unless Microsoft does some steps to destroy it… But that’s another story
Aleksey Bragin.
I said program, not compile ( was, of course referring to VC++