http://www.osnews.com/story/15576/ReactOS_0_3_0_RC3_Released Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:36:10 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://osnews.com/thread?154520 http://osnews.com/thread?154520 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 Mon, 21 Aug 2006 19:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (magnusbb) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154524 http://osnews.com/thread?154524 I assume they are saying ReactOS itself is still in alpha stage (since its version number is 0.3RC). The RCs are for that version number, not a 1.0 release. Mon, 21 Aug 2006 19:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (bkavanaugh) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154533 http://osnews.com/thread?154533 I hope Microsoft never comes down on them for what they are doing... ReactOS is a great project. Is there any potential for legal hassle from MS for their project? Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:19:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (DjLizard) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154542 http://osnews.com/thread?154542 Short answer: no. Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (n0xx) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154543 http://osnews.com/thread?154543 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 Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (HeLfReZ) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154544 http://osnews.com/thread?154544 ...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 Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (twenex) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154558 http://osnews.com/thread?154558 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. Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:56:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (BrandonTurner) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154563 http://osnews.com/thread?154563 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 Mon, 21 Aug 2006 21:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (twenex) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154569 http://osnews.com/thread?154569 I see the package manager is in there now and i like the idea of being able to grab my apps from one source instead of having to scour the net like in windows another good idea borrowed from *nix Mon, 21 Aug 2006 21:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (viator) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154585 http://osnews.com/thread?154585 What a great project. I assure you I'll follow it to the final 1.0. I would hope to be using it one day. Great work. Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Sodapop) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154587 http://osnews.com/thread?154587 OH MY GOD! WHY CAN'T THESE OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS MAKE COMPUTERS EASY TO USE?!

[/sarcasm] Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (twenex) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154602 http://osnews.com/thread?154602 because whenever you come up with something idiotproof, somebody invents a better idiot. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 00:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Alleister) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154603 http://osnews.com/thread?154603 I think they mean better driver support. I spend the last two days futile trying to get the ati drivers to work on my pavilion zt3000 running suse and i tend to agree with them right now. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 00:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Alleister) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154606 http://osnews.com/thread?154606 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. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 00:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (johndaly) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154618 http://osnews.com/thread?154618 I've never read on thier site that they were "violently opposed to linux" they just want a free implementation of a "Windows-like" OS to run Windows programs. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 01:45:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (BluenoseJake) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154621 http://osnews.com/thread?154621 Why are they doing release candidates when their code audits aren't done? Is that code not included in the release? Tue, 22 Aug 2006 02:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (RedIcculus) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154625 http://osnews.com/thread?154625 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. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 02:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (nick) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154626 http://osnews.com/thread?154626 Consider thyself modded up to +10! Tue, 22 Aug 2006 02:33:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (twenex) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154627 http://osnews.com/thread?154627 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. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 02:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (twenex) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154630 http://osnews.com/thread?154630 """Whilst I would dearly love to see Microsoft disappear forever tomorrow (as long as no actual deaths were involved, of course)"""

Twenex,

Why so squeamish? ;-) Tue, 22 Aug 2006 03:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sbergman27) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154633 http://osnews.com/thread?154633 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. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 04:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (BrandonTurner) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154640 http://osnews.com/thread?154640 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. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 04:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ojh77) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154641 http://osnews.com/thread?154641 does it support usb devices fine? like keyboard/mice Tue, 22 Aug 2006 04:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (diego) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154643 http://osnews.com/thread?154643 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? Tue, 22 Aug 2006 05:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (nick) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154644 http://osnews.com/thread?154644 I wish you good luck! Tue, 22 Aug 2006 05:45:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (k.g.stoyanov) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154645 http://osnews.com/thread?154645 IIRC the code that hasn't been audited is locked and can't be edited until it has bee fully audited Tue, 22 Aug 2006 05:56:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (digitaldisaster) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154657 http://osnews.com/thread?154657 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. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 07:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (draethus) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154667 http://osnews.com/thread?154667 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. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 10:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (johndaly) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154691 http://osnews.com/thread?154691 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. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (netpython) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154699 http://osnews.com/thread?154699 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. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (KenJackson) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154710 http://osnews.com/thread?154710 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. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 14:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (liamdawe) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154722 http://osnews.com/thread?154722 Arguing whether ReactOS will be used over Microsoft or Linux for whatever reasons is ridiculous. Let them work on their operating system so that they can provide you with another alternative if you so choose to use it. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 14:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mattst88) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154728 http://osnews.com/thread?154728 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.... Tue, 22 Aug 2006 15:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Bobmeister) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154738 http://osnews.com/thread?154738 Yes, I know. I was more of just trying to get the point across that we aren't fighting with Linux on who is better. If it makes you happy, I withdraw my comment and replace it with "In the past we have worked closely with many linux projects such as WINE". Tue, 22 Aug 2006 16:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (BrandonTurner) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154739 http://osnews.com/thread?154739 Good idea, but it could be cool to port dpkg/apt to reactos.

The reactos packagemanager is just a frontend to a download mechanism, it seems. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 16:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (chris_dk) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154740 http://osnews.com/thread?154740 I downloaded the Live CD and ran it with qemu. Very nice. Uses only 55 MB and is quick to boot.

This project will be fun to watch when it matures.

It will give many people to option to run a secure (hopefully), free open source OS. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 16:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (chris_dk) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154877 http://osnews.com/thread?154877 I'm waiting for full TCP/IP support and the support of my hardware by the driver and I'll never switch back. I'd love to see KDE ported to ReactOS through. Maybe implementing X inside GDI? This could be a killer. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 20:56:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (werfu) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154895 http://osnews.com/thread?154895 Pleaso no X It's true it will be the killer. But it will be the killer of reactOS
About TCP/IP. I'm wondering why OpenBSD TCP/IP isn't imported. I think it's veeery secure, stable & good Tue, 22 Aug 2006 21:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Nicram) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?154917 http://osnews.com/thread?154917 Why would having X kill ReactOS? I would think an X server would be a very good thing. I think X.org has a MinGW port. Tue, 22 Aug 2006 22:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mmebane) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?155101 http://osnews.com/thread?155101 ... 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 Wed, 23 Aug 2006 09:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (gilboa) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?155204 http://osnews.com/thread?155204 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 Wed, 23 Aug 2006 15:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Nicram) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?155448 http://osnews.com/thread?155448 Hi
Wine accpect patch from ReactOS.
Wine want patch + testcase for the code.
they have start doing so to improve the stable of wine. And in ReactOS we have start using testcase seen some month ago. To incress windows compatible and stable. Thu, 24 Aug 2006 08:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (GreatLord) Comments