ReactOS (Windows for the Free)

[E6600]

For quite sometime I've been following the ReactOS project. The people at ReactOS are still in Alpha phase, Beta will soon be available and soon on my HD.
Do you think a Free* clone of Windows has a chance of succeeding and wide adaptation? has anyone here tried it?
What ReactOS needs to provide for you to consider it?
Some of us can't switch away from Windows, due to legacy applications, drivers, PC games, etc... ReactOS might be just the answer for them.



Frontpage - ReactOS Website
ReactOS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

* Free as in Freedom, the Freedom to use it as you wish, the Freedom to study it and modify it and the Freedom to redistribute it.
And did I say that ReactOS is also available without charge!

[chedabob]

No .

The question of adoption would come down to: Will Windows programs run on it?

[chedabob]

Originally Posted by PhoenixKfz

The question of adoption would come down to: Will Windows programs run on it?

And the answer is no.

ReactOS is pretty much a more advanced version of Wine, skinned to look like Windows. They are chasing a dream that will never be realised, because by the time they can fully emulate a version of Windows, two new versions will be out and people will want the new features that they offer, rather than features from 2 versions ago.

At its heart, it's still Linux, and Linux has a looooooong way to go before your average computer user will want to use it. Everyone harps on about how Windows sucks, but it does one thing well (very well actually): User friendliness. No commands lines. No source code. No dependency issues. I can setup my PC to a usable state in 2 hours. With Linux, I'm still waiting.

[Gnu]

Looks worthless if it doesn't run Windows applications any better than Wine.

If it were to run Windows applications well, I would use it in a heartbeat (but throw KDE on it instead)

[E6600]

Originally Posted by PhoenixKfz

The question of adoption would come down to: Will Windows programs run on it?

Quite a lot of them already do, and with every upgrade the compatibility is improving. They are planning on 100% compatibility with Windows NT +5.x in version 1.0.

Originally Posted by chedabob

No .

Why? Care to elaborate?

Originally Posted by Gnu

Looks worthless if it doesn't run Windows applications any better than Wine.

If it were to run Windows applications well, I would use it in a heartbeat (but throw KDE on it instead)

It's still in Alpha phase.

Originally Posted by chedabob

And the answer is no.

ReactOS is pretty much a more advanced version of Wine, skinned to look like Windows. They are chasing a dream that will never be realised, because by the time they can fully emulate a version of Windows, two new versions will be out and people will want the new features that they offer, rather than features from 2 versions ago.

At its heart, it's still Linux, and Linux has a looooooong way to go before your average computer user will want to use it. Everyone harps on about how Windows sucks, but it does one thing well (very well actually): User friendliness. No commands lines. No source code. No dependency issues. I can setup my PC to a usable state in 2 hours. With Linux, I'm still waiting.

It isn't Linux, and it only shares DLLs with Wine. ReactOS is a clone of Windows like how Linux for the most part was a clone of Unix.
I've found Ubuntu 7.10 and Mac OS X to be much more user friendly than any version of Windows I've ever used! And I'm a Windows user for as long as I remember (+16 years), since I was 5.

[Gnu]

Originally Posted by chedabob

At its heart, it's still Linux

According to Wikipedia, it has its own kernel, written from scratch. Since what makes Linux is the kernel, I don't understand why you said that..

[Gnu]

Originally Posted by E6600

It's still in Alpha phase.

That's fine, I'm patient. When it comes out as a beta, I might even throw it on its own partition and dual-boot it and see how I like it. If it runs a browser, openoffice, WoW, and a few other things, that is 90% of what I use my computer for, anyway.

[E6600]

Originally Posted by Gnu

That's fine, I'm patient. When it comes out as a beta, I might even throw it on its own partition and dual-boot it and see how I like it. If it runs a browser, openoffice, WoW, and a few other things, that is 90% of what I use my computer for, anyway.

The beta version should be out in a couple of months, supposedly this month, but you know how it goes with big software projects.
I'm going to try it out, and I might even purge Windows xp out of my HD and replace it with ReactOS, if it managed to identify my hardware well and run Command & Conquer 3 and RPG Maker xp

[Gnu]

Originally Posted by E6600

The beta version should be out in a couple of months, supposedly this month, but you know how it goes with big software projects.
I'm going to try it out, and I might even purge Windows xp out of my HD and replace it with ReactOS, if it managed to identify my hardware well and run Command & Conquer 3 and RPG Maker xp

Hahaha, as it is i'm so unhappy with XP on my laptop, I am willing to drop it for anything that will work better.

Though, I would definitely miss the enhanced outlook web access for my work email, which only works in IE..