ReactOS just released version 0.3.0 RC3 of their Windows compatible operating system. Their code audit is now 94.3% complete. You can get it from their download page.
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Member since:
2006-08-21
Great news, great progress
But, could someone please clarify this for me?
"Please bear in mind that ReactOS 0.3.0 RC3 is still in alpha stage and is not recommended for everyday use."
How can it be, that a RC (a release candidate), even the third in a row, is of alpha quality?
Magnus
Member since:2005-07-07
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2006-06-28
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That is why they are conducting the code audit...They needed to confirm and verify that there was no MS coming to getcha..code in the see link http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php/Audit
Member since:
2006-04-21
...by some of the comments they make on their site. They claim not to be taking (or aiming to take) interest and resources from Linux, yet at the same time to be violently opposed to it. In my experience, contrasting Linux with Windows by saying that the latter is high-quality and has high-quality support (and thereby inferring that the former is not and does not) has proven to be utter, laughable drivel.
Edited 2006-08-21 20:33
Member since:2006-01-27
We actually use a lot of code that we ported from Linux(usb driver, crt stuff) and we also work with WINE very closely and share a lot of the same code base. We arent saying Windows is better then Linux. We are just saying that we want to make a free operating system which runs Windows programs.
Member since:2006-04-21
Maybe I just took it the wrong way. To be clear, I have no problem with an Open Source Windows OS; in fact, despite my doubts about the quality of the platform, if an alternative Windows-like OS liberates us from Microsoft, (a company I consider to be only one or two steps away from the lowest of the low), then, whether open- or legal, closed-source, I welcome that alternative.
Edited 2006-08-21 21:03
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Nobody is going to liberate us from Microsoft. They are so entrenched there is just no way they are going away. Look at IBM, it was "The Evil Empire" once, MS pulled some of its teeth but couldn't kill it.
What interests me more is what niche will Reactos use to get into the enterprise? With Linux it was LAMP and similar web server setups. My best guess is file server of some sort.
Member since:2006-04-17
No way would it replace Linux+Samba as a fileserver /
AD server.
Look at the amount of resources being poured into Linux,
and the amount of work required in samba to implement a
compatible server.
No, a reimplemented NT really has no use in the server
space. As a client there should definitely be a niche,
though. Although I'll wager MS will step up efforts to
hamper this kind of thing like they do successfully with
AD/CIFS against samba.
Look at vista, with increasing requirements for HW 3d
acceleration. Now consider that 3d drivers are closed
source, and that both nv and ati completely closed up
sources and specs after getting xbox contracts.
Member since:2006-01-27
Granted at this time it is not suitable to replace anything including a server. However, once we get closer to 1.0 we will be able to run all samba tools. We already can run file and printing client samba tools and will soon (starting in 0.3.1) be including samba-tng command line tools in all our releases.
Member since:2006-04-17
Then once you're on samba, why would you use reactos
over linux for enterprise file serving?
Definitely not because it is faster or more scalable,
more stable, better tested, or better supported?
The only thing I can think of is where the win32 API is
required. If that is a critical requirement, then in
server space, any enterprise would be highly likely to
keep their existing NT installation, no?
Member since:2005-12-19
Look at vista, with increasing requirements for HW 3d
acceleration. Now consider that 3d drivers are closed
source, and that both nv and ati completely closed up
sources and specs after getting xbox contracts.
I thought one of the main points of React is binary compatibility with 2000/XP drivers. I don't see nVidia and ATI dropping support for 2000 and XP until LONG after Vista has been out. But it would be nice for stability if the majority of React drivers are open source ports from Linux.
Member since:2006-01-16
There are people out there that would rather spend the 500 euros for Windows Server 2003 before going with Linux as a file server because they don't want to have to learn "another operating system". So just because Linux can do the job doesn't mean people will automatically look at it.
About a reimplementation of NT having no use in the server space, well I disagree. Dave Cutler know what he was doing and NT has everything a good server OS needs, MS has just made some really bad decisions about where to go from the original design. From what I can tell Reactos has all those good features and with some effort somebody could make a really good server distro based on Reactos.
Member since:2005-07-06
There are people out there that would rather spend the 500 euros for Windows Server 2003
And what about the license costs?
That's a magnitude more.Even if you don't need support you have to pay big bucks.Now i could imagine if one doesn't need AD but just a file or webserver it would be much cheaper to order a linux/*BSD CD.
Member since:2006-04-21
You're right, however IBM is not the overbearing, dominating beast it once was. Whilst I would dearly love to see Microsoft disappear forever tomorrow (as long as no actual deaths were involved, of course), I'd consider it a job well done if it were run out of the server market completely and had its desktop marketshare (in markets where its current marketshare is over 90%) reduced to 50%. That is much more doable.
Member since:2005-07-24
Member since:2005-07-18
Nobody is going to liberate us from Microsoft. They are so entrenched there is just no way they are going away.
I hadn't really thought of it in quite those terms. But what a thought!
I'm not so sure that liberation isn't possible. The one thing that GNU/Linux doesn't offer (and definitely doesn't want to offer) is a be a "works just like Windows" replacement for Windows. If ReactOS can ever get to the point where 99% of Windows applications run with no significant hickups, I am sure they will capture a fair percentage of Windows users, even if they offer nothing special extra. (And we know that security will be better, so there is a built-in extra already.)
There are plenty of people that really want to switch to an alternative OS, but are afraid, or think they don't have the time to learn to use it. But if they know they already have all the skills they need, the biggest roadblock to switching is removed.
Member since:2006-07-04
I totally agree with you here.
I am one of those people, i have Ubuntu installed but there are so many things that keep anoying and scaring me about it, from a not so simple file structure (etc, root, usr, local etc etc etc) to little things here and there.
If reactos works, they have a user in me.
Member since:2005-07-06
... People seem to forget that if/once ReactOS runs 99% of all Windows programs without a hiccup, Linux (and BSD) will also be able match this number (Or come very close to it) as both work on the Wine project.
EDIT: Strike that, seems that Wine and ReactOS don't get along too well lately.
Edited 2006-08-23 09:40
Member since:2006-08-02
we also work with WINE very closely and share a lot of the same code base
That was in the past. WINE is now staying clear of ReactOS, not even accepting patches ported from it. ReactOS's collaboration with the tinykrnl project has ruined its reputation.
From the wine mailing lists, taken from http://wiki.jswindle.com/index.php/Coding_Hints :
A developer wrote: This patch bases on reactos [xxxxx].dll.
A. Juliard [Jun 06]: No ReactOS-derived code will be accepted in Wine at this point.
M. McCormack[Jun 06]: [...] This is not simply a problem of what is legal and not in different countries. We don't want to be associated project that is perceived to be pushing the edge of what's legally (or even socially) acceptable. Doing so would encourage FUD about Wine and that's a good way to lose developers and users. [...] Using test cases to determine the behaviour of Windows provides a way to verify both the code that's written today, and code that will be written a year later. It's not just legally better, it's easier to do, easier for others to understand, and gives us a way to verify our code.
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Exactly....and alternatives are good.
I just installed ReactOS 0.3RC3 on my test system...and I think there is a lot of promise. Of course, as of now, it's not much more than a booting kernel, a basic GUI and some minor features...but that is a good start.
There will be countless people who will want a basic Windows-compatible OS without the cost.
I for one, might find use for this....
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Because it will make ReactOS eat much more RAM, more HDD space, more CPU power. & userbase that will really use it will be veery little. ReactOS is made to be somekind Windows replacement. Not Linux 
Btw. there are X implementations for Windows. If ReactOS will be full functional, then those X implementations will work on it also. Why make another one?
Edited 2006-08-23 15:51