ReactOS 0.1.5 has been released, featuring many improvements and fixes. The new release includes lots of work on the graphical DLLs, as well as all round work on the system. French and German keyboard layouts are now also available.
ReactOS 0.1.5 released
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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So, the site is down so I’ll ask here… How close is ReactOS to getting Wine ported and running? I remember someone was working on it but I havn’t checked the progress in a while.
….and no screenshots?!?!?!?
But very slow…
We are in the process of merging the dlls but it takes time to properly test, branch and import them. If you want to try using them under ReactOS with the explorer clone or other Windows applications download the dlls from this link:
http://mail.gleneagle.net/sedwards/wineros.zip
Thanks I’ll check that out…
Well, then, thinking of the future, how close is ReactOS to running Office 2000 natively? By the end of this year, next year?
“Well, then, thinking of the future, how close is ReactOS to running Office 2000 natively? By the end of this year, next year? ”
Definately not this year. I believe they are hoping to get OpenOffice and Mozilla working by end of next year. There is nothing about Office 2000 on the roadmap but I would think that it would be about the same time.
To the ReactOS team: Y’all are doing a great job and I look forward to using it in the future.
For me, there’s a significant performance improvement from 0.1.4 to 0.1.5…I’m running it under Virtual PC. 0.1.4 took a *long* time to do the disk scan on startup – in 0.1.5, it takes very little time. It looks like they are making great progress in other areas as well. Congrats to the ReactOS team!
it is not about crappy windows but about applications. it would be nice to get windows applications running in a native way with an os that is clean and simple. and free!
Wow! I suggest that everyone take a look at their roadmap.
By april, 2005 (a year and a half away…) They plan to have the system be usable as a home and buisness workstation…
AND as a small-office server.
I still think that this might be a bit more than they can handle, especially on Volunteer work.
BUT, as soon as they can get a stable version running that supports most of my hardware (I wouldn’t really need accelerated graphics, etc) I’m definatly going to have to try it out.
I loaded NT 4.0 the other day, got myself recquainted, and I remebered how simple and functional it was. Except for some artificially placed barriers to install, you can run almost any 32 bit app on it. Just think: If Wine won’t run your app of choice, you’d start an emulator and run a copy of Windows. This ensures that you don’t have to.
However, I suppose that everything being equal, by the time React OS is able to load and run everything, there will be functionally superior OSS equivalents ready for use.
“Windows is dead, Linux will rule. Why would anyone want to create a port of a trash crap OS. Its not even worth anything. They should do a Linux distro because Windows is a dead end.”
I respect your right to your opinion, but I must point out that following that line of logic, there’s not a lot of point to most of what’s posted here on OSNews. I mean if a Linux distro (and I am quite a fan of Linux, btw) can do it all, why bother with any other OS?
Different operating systems exist because either they fulfill a specific purpose, or specific purposes, for one or more people in a way that they find relatively appealing – or, purely for the enjoyment of their creators.
I have a feeling that ReactOS’s reason for being is a combination of those two reasons.
The Reactos people have made great strides since they began (around the same time as…does anyone remember “Freedows”?), especially given the small volunteer force they have. From the perspective of an OS fan, it is *fun* to watch the project evolve. …And one possible outcome of their efforts could be a reasonably complete NT clone _with_its_source_code_completely_open-source_.
“Find me one person who actually likes Windows.”
I actually like WindowsXP ALOT. It “just works” right out of the box. Security issues aside, I find XP to be more stable than Linux running KDE. Driver availability and software selection is also superior to Linux.
Sure, philosophically I like Linux more than Windows but I’d rather pay for fully functional closed source software than use buggy open-source software that’s free.
I like the idea of software that is freely modifiable and you can contribute to it, but I also like the fact that windows just works. I may not exactly like some of the task based interface stuff in XP but I love the fact that most of the time it just works. I plug a USB drive in, and it just shows up.. Almost(if not all) all new stuff has XP drivers. It’s stable and it just works. To have the flexibility of Linux and the compatibility and just works factor of Windows will rock.
BTW-I’ve been keeping up with this project for almost(if not that long or more) 2 years, and they have made ALOT of project since then. I think they’ve made huge advances since they got windowing up. Networking and plug and play drivers will make it truely rock.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say I love Windows, but I definitely don’t like Linux…yet, I am still open-minded. I have tried several “easy” distros only to switch back to my XP install after about 2 weeks of each (which I think is a suitable amount of trial time). ReactOS has my interest peaked because I dont used MS apps on my WindowsXP install, and strangely it is VERY stable. I use Mozilla about 90% of the time now for internet, GAIM for IMing, OpenOffice.org 1.0.1 for office stuff and a whole host of other programs that are and aren’t available under Linux. Some would argue “Since all those listed are available on Linux, why not just use Linux?” to that I say “I have, know, and understand XP right now. I have tried Linux and there is always 2 to 3 things about it which vary from distro to distro, that keep me from using exclusively. Long boot times, lack of drivers, lack of being able to get something to run that is ‘compatible’, configuration…Windows as an OS and nothing more works for what I need it to. Even the programs like OO.org and GAIM were easier/quicker to install and configure under windows for me than under Linux.”
To the ReactOS team: Great work you guys. I gave 0.1.5 a try today (my first time) and was really impressed. Can’t wait to see more!
I haven’t got around to downloading and trying 0.1.5 out yet, but I will.
And everybody else – if you truly want a good and operable Windows NT 4.0-XP clone, dig in and help. The more the merrier.
Give them accurate feedback; give them bugreports and bugfixes; give them support.
Now I’ve got myself a copy of the “Microsoft Windows(tm) 2000 API Superbible”, I may well suit deeds to words, and jump in and help. (I still wish I had a copy of the various versions Inside/Undocumented Windows[NT|2k|9x] but what the heck!)
Heroes of Might and Magic 1,2,3,4
Does anyone know how does it fare with these games, so far? HOMM 1 and 2 supported??