What can I do with ReactOS?

[gymophett]

I put Windows XP on here as a dual boot. But I'm a Windows hater, so I'm thinking of using ReactOS. Any thoughts?

Although I think Windows XP would have to be the best OS Windows has created so far.

[gymophett]

I may wait a while until it gets out of its alpha stage.

[swoll1980]

Burn it to a disc, and use it as a coaster

[gymophett]

Burn it to a disc, and use it as a coaster

Lol. :] I'm guessing your saying, it sucks..

[howefield]

Don't hold your breath waiting, hasn't this been around more than 12 years and still an alpha ?

[gymophett]

Don't hold your breath waiting, hasn't this been around more than 12 years and still an alpha ?

I think so :/

[perlluver]

From what I have heard, it is pretty unstable. I think they are still working on it, but I don't think it will be stable for some time.

[Brunellus]

ReactOS: all the stability of Windows with all the headaches of WINE!

[howefield]

ReactOS: all the stability of Windows with all the headaches of WINE!

Don't sit on the fence, say what you mean.

You make it sound quite attractive,

:lolflag::lolflag:

[Eisenwinter]

I used it in a VM once.

It crashed about 30 minutes in, and there were numerous display bugs with certain programs (mIRC, Firefox).

Don't try to install it on real hardware, I doubt it'll work, the guys at freenode's #reactos say so themselves.

When I tried to install it on real hardware, it froze up, before I even got to partitioning the drive, yet when I installed it in a vm, it worked perfectly.

It also installs faster than Windows, but I guess that's because it doesn't have as much built in programs as Windows.

[phrostbyte]

It has worse program compatibility then Wine. As in, if you take Linux, Xorg, and Wine on a lightweight WM, and install no Linux GUI apps (just Windows) - it would be a better Windows replacement then ReactOS at this time.

[dragos240]

It has worse program compatibility then Wine. As in, if you take Linux, Xorg, and Wine on a lightweight WM, and install no Linux GUI apps (just Windows) - it would be a better Windows replacement then ReactOS at this time.

Not entirely true, it actually runs more programs then wine does, but it really has a lot of bugs, although i wish them luck! It really does sound like a good idea.

[phrostbyte]

Not entirely true, it actually runs more programs then wine does, but it really has a lot of bugs, although i wish them luck! It really does sound like a good idea.

Try running any application that requires Direct3D on ReactOS. ReactOS actually uses Wine in userspace, but it lacks the hardware acceleration to run most 3d video games. So therefore, it runs less applications then Wine can on Linux.

[gymophett]

Wow, sounds terrible.

[dragos240]

Try running any application that requires Direct3D on ReactOS. ReactOS actually uses Wine in userspace, but it lacks the hardware acceleration to run most 3d video games. So therefore, it runs less applications then Wine can on Linux.

Really? Hmm... I wonder why i can run more programs in there, than i can on linux. I'll have to look more into it.

[phrostbyte]

Really? Hmm... I wonder why i can run more programs in there, than i can on linux. I'll have to look more into it.

What apps you can run on ReactOS but not Wine?

[Thirtysixway]

You'd be better off with just wine or a vm of windows.

[spoons]

ReactOS is a good idea but too early for any meaningful use yet. It fun to get stuff going in it and seeing how much they fixed since the last release, but it's useless as a normal operating system. At this time the only suitable windows compatible operating system is windows.

[Jammy4041]

In a VM, it is good. Although still in alpha stage, it does (at least in VMWare) boot.
Wait for the 0.4.X releases; the beta, where it would be ready for normal use should, if all goes well, come in December.

All I can say is finally.

I hopwe ReactOS does well. Better than paying $$ for Mircosoft's rubbish.

[amitabhishek]

Reminds me of Win95.

[Orlsend]

I always liked ReactOS, runs awesome in really low spec computers!

[lisati]

I always liked ReactOS, runs awesome in really low spec computers!

The LiveCD I tried worked reasonably well on one of my laptops, but the install CD hung because said laptop uses a SATA HD. I must dig out the CDs I burned & try it on my old machine.

[k2t0f12d]

Lol. :] I'm guessing your saying, it sucks..It's in alpha. Alpha software is not meant to be used on production machines, except for testing, development, or good ole fashioned sh1ts and giggles. If held to the expectations of a fully vetted final version, the alpha is going to come up lacking almost invariably. If your intentions were to use it as a complete Windows replacement today, then yes its CD is just as good as a coaster. However, ReactOS can do some useful things now, on a rather slim range of hardware compared to Windows or GNU+Linux. But as Linus said;
If it compiles, it is good, if it boots up it is perfect.

[insane_alien]

asking if reactOS is good is like asking if a cake is tasty before the ingredients are even mixed.

[GOROSSI]

I always liked ReactOS, runs awesome in really low spec computers!

That's because as much as they try it's always going to really behind what ms are doing the same goes for WINE

[k2t0f12d]

That's because as much as they try it's always going to really behind what ms are doing the same goes for WINEYour premise is wrong. Those projects aren't trying to drive Windows API development. Their goal is to produce software platforms that are binary compatible with the development that Micro$oft is driving. It isn't a race with Micro$oft to some nebulous goal for which both are striving. As Micro$oft releases changes to their platform, WINE and ReactOS developers triage which changes are most necessary and implements compatibility with them in that order.

The salient point being that for ReactOS or WINE to "catch-up", Micro$soft would have to have actually stopped developing Windows.

[original_jamingrit]

In the dev's defence, part of the reason it's going so slowly because is that at one point non-free Microsoft code was actually inserted into the project. You can imagine the reactions of both the Free Software community and MSFT.

Also, part of the project's unpopularity is caused by this little beastie: http://svn.reactos.org/svn/reactos/trunk/reactos/drivers/storage/class/disk/license.txt?view=markup
, which falls into the faint gray area between a free license and a proprietary Microsoft license. It's a license of MSFT's for the free-to-use "sample" code.