ReactOS: Not *nix and not Windows? BBC Article

SMN · 14 Sep 2011 at 12:06

Anybody see this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14899507

Cant quite figure out what to make of it. They say stuff like:

The system's developers say it runs all Windows programs, but is much faster than its Microsoft equivalent.

If it gets a financial boost, it could be usable in the near future, they add.

Contrary to Linux and other non-Windows operating systems, ReactOS is a community-driven international initiative that is said to be fully compatible with all Windows-based applications, programs and services.

So what is this OS? If its not BSD or System5 based, its not MSDOS based... But its community driven (unlike Linux...er what.....), and can run DirectX and all Windows programs seamlessly?

Sam

memyselfandi · 14 Sep 2011 at 13:18

A remarkably un-educated article by the BBC ... ReactOS has been around for many years and is still only an alpha grade release. Basically they appear to be reverse engineering the Windows APIs to produce a compatible OS which can run Windows programs.

To be honest I don't really see the point ...if you want to run Windows software then run Windows, if you don't then don't. Why use some form of OS which will always be not quite compatible ...

ng93 · 14 Sep 2011 at 13:39

memyselfandi said:
To be honest I don't really see the point ...if you want to run Windows software then run Windows, if you don't then don't. Why use some form of OS which will always be not quite compatible ...

This TBH, and by the time it's finished (if it's ever finished) Windows 8 will be along with WinRT and DirectX 11.1/12. Can't see it ever getting anywhere near fully compatible TBH.

SMN · 14 Sep 2011 at 14:31

Yeah, I suspected it was *nix based but it just confused the life out of me - i thought they were inventing a new OS with a copy of the MS source code

heh

masterluke · 14 Sep 2011 at 17:39

I think it re-uses a lot of the code from WINE - in fact several key developers work on both projects. Its a re-implementation of the windows API. I do see uses for this. It boots and runs extremely fast. Imagine a version of windows which you are free to customise like you can in linux.

whitecrook · 14 Sep 2011 at 17:42

Not to mention windows app support for win apps that no longer run on windows

PermaBanned · 14 Sep 2011 at 17:49

I've used it a couple of times throughout it's life. Would probably work better on a virtual machine for now, i couldn't figure out how to install anything, never mind if it would actually run or not. A lot of potential, for somebody who doesn't want to give money to microsoft or use closed source software, but needs/wants software that only runs in Windows or doesn't want to faff about with a gazillion Wine settings that break every time it's updated. But it's not ready yet...

Glaucus · 14 Sep 2011 at 18:16

Going to be made redundant by win8 as it changes a fair bit of stuff and as developers make metro UI and using the immense power now embedded into windows kernel, for sharing and fetching data. Then they have a stupid amount of catch up to do.

BigglesPiP · 14 Sep 2011 at 18:38

The aim of the very old ReactOS is to be "binary compatible" with Windows, so you can use Windowes drivers and Windows software.

Personally, I doubt it could ever pass the usefulness of alternatives such as wine, and given any funding it would just be raped by microsoft for a bunch of patent infringements.

Monkeynut · 14 Sep 2011 at 18:48

PermaBanned said:
I've used it a couple of times throughout it's life. Would probably work better on a virtual machine for now, i couldn't figure out how to install anything, never mind if it would actually run or not. A lot of potential, for somebody who doesn't want to give money to microsoft or use closed source software, but needs/wants software that only runs in Windows or doesn't want to faff about with a gazillion Wine settings that break every time it's updated. But it's not ready yet...

They now have an application centre to download essential things. I think it will start to fork away from new Windows with Windows 8. The only thing helping Windows is it's ubiquity as it's installed on almost all PCs and that it has a massive library of software. I suspect application developers will still code for Windows 7 and lower long after Windows 8 is released as that will remain a large proportion of users.

richthomuk · 14 Sep 2011 at 19:39

memyselfandi said:
A remarkably un-educated article by the BBC ... ReactOS has been around for many years and is still only an alpha grade release. Basically they appear to be reverse engineering the Windows APIs to produce a compatible OS which can run Windows programs.

To be honest I don't really see the point ...if you want to run Windows software then run Windows, if you don't then don't. Why use some form of OS which will always be not quite compatible ...

How is it an uneducated article, the report already says the OS has been around for a long time and is still in an experimental stage. All they are doing is quoting Aleksey Bragin not doing a full on article about the OS.

tntcoder · 14 Sep 2011 at 22:02

I've discussed this project with one of the devs, it's more interesting as a research project than anything else. If you want to learn how the windows kernel works for example it's a top notch resource as it's all reverse engineered.