ReactOS, anyone use it/tried it?

[Slug71]

Im thinking about testing it on a spare machine and would just like to know if its worth while? Also how do you think security will be compared to MS Windows?

Does it also have rolling updates or do you need to reinstall every time a new version comes out?

[jrusso2]

It runs on a virtual machine but seems to be less then wine even when it comes to running windows applications in a stable environment.

[The Toxic Mite]

My mate has tried it but he says it's crap.

ReactOS is going to fail. Defninitely.

[chris4585]

ReactOS is in Alpha stages... its not a finished product so don't treat it like one.

[matthekc]

I used to have a 500mhz dell that would run it natively years ago...

It's kind of like Wine except not as useful and it crashes more.

I really do hope the project gets to a good place but Wine will always be at least close to on par with it because they work together.

[PupSpark]

It only works with a PS/2 Mouse and keyboard. Doesn't support USB.

[aysiu]

ReactOS is in Alpha stages... its not a finished product so don't treat it like one.
I'd go much further than that and say it's unusable.

When I got curious about ReactOS a couple of years ago, I saw the warning about it being alpha software and thought "Yeah, that's what they always say. They always say it's alpha so you can't blame them if there's a problem, but it'll probably be at least mostly functional."

No, it wasn't.

It was unusable. It would constantly freeze up. And it offered no additional functionality beyond what Wine can offer. ReactOS is useless.

[mmix]

I have been tried it several time, it seems getting better.
But, the hardware compatibility need to be improved.

[xuCGC002]

It's useless now, but I hope it improves greatly in the future. It crashes too much for normal use, unfortunately.

[Grant A.]

It was unusable. It would constantly freeze up. And it offered no additional functionality beyond what Wine can offer. ReactOS is useless.

No it's not! Its CD is the best damn coaster I've ever owned!

[chris4585]

rofl

indeed it is unstable

[Slug71]

Well it probably gonna be a big waste of time but i may just see where its at, at the moment.

Guess no one knows about the security then if it crashes so much. Kinda seems like Windows behaviour too, no?

[Dullstar]

No it's not! Its CD is the best damn coaster I've ever owned!

LOL!

One of these days, I should see if my computer came with a XP re-installation CD... TO USE IT AS A COASTER!

[binbash]

It is CRAP!

[xuCGC002]

LOL!

One of these days, I should see if my computer came with a XP re-installation CD... TO USE IT AS A COASTER!

That's what I do with my Windows Server 2k3 box... It works perfectly, no errors whatsoever.

:D

[XpTheUndead-]

The advantage of ReactOS is compability with Windows drivers so the hardware compability will be as good as Windows. ReactOS code can benefit Linux too.

[Kazade]

ReactOS is heavily unstable, I think calling it an Alpha is probably a bit optimistic. That said, it does improve noticeably with each release, and like Wine, at some point each bug they fix will massively improve the OS (a bit like Yokozar's Wine model here: http://yokozar.org/blog/content/wine-model-realistic-500apps-500users.png )

So I wouldn't rule it out completely. I think we are looking at the tail end of 2011 realistically for ReactOS to work on arbitrary hardware.

I think anything that can disrupt Microsoft's stranglehold on the OS market is a good thing. If ReactOS became feature equivalent with Windows there would be literally no barrier of entry (because drivers, and software will work) and Microsoft's market share would drop drastically. Add Ubuntu and Apple to the mix and you've seriously made a dent.

[Giant Speck]

They always say it's alpha so you can't blame them if there's a problem...

That kind of reminds me of how a lot of people say you can't criticize a program you didn't pay for.

[gnuvistawouldbecool]

Tried it in virtual machines, runs rather badly, thought it was my computer not being very good (3 year old laptop, runs 9.10 alpha 3 KDE fine...), tried it on actual hardware, was an old machine, ran how it does in virtualbox.

Currently tried to get it to boot on a 2.8GHz pentium 4, fails every time at bootup. Put it in debug mode, outputs some stuff then display blacks...

I'd rather use a nightly snapshot of 9.10, really.

[Eisenwinter]

I ran it in a virtual machine once. Installation and initial post installation setup went fine.

It crashed out of nowhere, after about 30 minutes, for no apparent reason, and that was it for me.

[Sand & Mercury]

I gave it a go about 2 years ago. It was not usable then, dunno how they've progressed since then but what I have heard is not good.

[keplerspeed]

I ran it in virtualbox, and I wasnt able to make it do anything useful for me. I do a lot of CAD work, so I usually use Xp in VB. Maybe down the track ill be able to use reactOS to do this. I do hope so.

And the windows 98 look is... ha. Progress will come!

[gnuvistawouldbecool]

And the windows 98 look is... ha. Progress will come!

Still, they've got the Blue Screen of Death perfect...

[mmix]

The advantage of ReactOS is compability with Windows drivers so the hardware compability will be as good as Windows. ReactOS code can benefit Linux too.

only in theory.
In reality, reactos dev-team has re-implemented their source code which could be breached by MS owned lawyers.

They did clean-room reverse engineering.

[aikiwolfie]

I've always really thought ReactOS was a pointless endeavour. They're trying to reinvent Microsoft Windows so they don't need to pay out to Microsoft.

Seriously, if people think Microsoft is so bad or they think they are being shafted by Redmond in anyway then stop using Microsoft products. Stop using products designed to work purely with Windows.

I appreciate some folks don't have a choice. But if you want ReactOS to play games? You'd be better off buying a PlayStation.

[moster]

Microsoft in developing windows had 1 mil bugs and these guys are trying to reverse engineer it with 100X less people? Ill guess they will need 25 years to make something similar to winXP.

(they already spend 10-12 years)

[reprobus]

I've played with it and I think it has potential but yeah it still needs a lot of work. Keep in mind that it is alpha software.

[coldReactive]

I've played with it (of course, only in VM as my hardware doesn't accept ROS.) The x64 port won't boot by the way, and the livecd (I think) of the x64 port doesn't even build.

What ROS is currently good for:

-- Virtual Machine on new machines
-- Old Hardware

To debug ROS, you need a serial port (on two computers), null modem cable and PuTTY or telnet client to get the debug output from COM1. There is no way to debug machines without this. Debugging from a VM is much simpler, hence why ROS works so well in VM.

[seteshf]

I'd go much further than that and say it's unusable.

When I got curious about ReactOS a couple of years ago, I saw the warning about it being alpha software and thought "Yeah, that's what they always say. They always say it's alpha so you can't blame them if there's a problem, but it'll probably be at least mostly functional."

No, it wasn't.

It was unusable. It would constantly freeze up. And it offered no additional functionality beyond what Wine can offer. ReactOS is useless.

There's no reason to go bagging on them.

If they can make a GPL'd Windows clone and people want to use it, I say more power to them.

I use ReactOS Explorer as my shell in my heavily nLited Windows XP.

Even if it doesn't produce a viable Windows clone, they're still flowing patches back into Wine. :)

[HappinessNow]

My mate has tried it but he says it's crap.

ReactOS is going to fail. Defninitely.
+1 Agreed. Garbage and a waste of time do not even bother burning a disk. If you're really in need of a coaster I find cork works much better.

[dragos240]

I tried it a while ago. Many bugs, but it might go somewhere.

[HappinessNow]

...but it might go somewhere.

somewhere...under a cup or in the trash.

[DeadSuperHero]

somewhere...under a cup or in the trash.

Wow, you're a real optimist.

I like what ReactOS is aiming to do. I believe that their work in reverse-engineering Windows helps the Wine project gain more of an understanding in how Windows libraries and API's work...heck, it was only a year ago that Wine 1.0 was released. Either way you look at it, it's a hugely beneficial project.

[tc3000]

It's an interesting project, but:
1. Wine works better now.
2. The UI is awful.
3. Unwilling to use non-C apps.

[cariboo]

This thread really doesn't weem to be going anywhere. It is closed.