Filed under: Windows, Open Source
What's up with ReactOS?
by Jordan Running Jul 14th 2006 at 12:25PM
If you haven't heard of ReactOS, here's the 411: ReactOS is an open source operating system intended to be compatible with (and as similar as possible to) Windows XP. The goal is to allow people to run WIndows apps as well as Windows device drivers without actually using Windows. The project has made considerable progress since its inception, but in case, like me, you've never had the opportunity to try it, NeoSmart has a lengthy review of ReactOS. It's mostly positive and includes anecdotes like, "Using ReactOS was a breeze, and once it's complete we believe a normal non-geek user would be very hard-pressed to r Not so good is ReactOS' weak TCP/IP stack. Much of ReactOS' is based on WINE, which provides its Windows compatibility, and as a result it's only as successful as WINE in running Windows apps. While you read the review, take a look at NeoSmart's ReactOS screenshot gallery, or head to the ReactOS web site for more information.[Via Slashdot]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Danny said 12:38PM on 7-14-2006
What a scam.. It's just wine.
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DJ said 12:42PM on 7-14-2006
I can't believe MS isn't slapping them around with tons and tons of copyrite violations.
They couldn't be more blatant.
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Jonathan Harford said 1:22PM on 7-14-2006
A scam? How much did they bilk you for, Danny?
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Jonathan Harford said 1:25PM on 7-14-2006
What is up with these absurd comments?
DJ, the only thing that's being copied is the API. That can't be copyrighted. Only the implementation of an API can be copyrighted.
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Joshua Ochs said 1:47PM on 7-14-2006
"It's just Wine"
Ahem. It's a clone of the NT kernel, device driver system, any everything that runs UNDER Wine. Wine is a Win32 API compatibility layer - it is not an operating system. ReactOS is the operating system. The two together (if completed) would be a complete open source clone of Windows XP, no Linux or other OS required.
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Fabian said 2:10PM on 7-14-2006
Indeed Joshua is right. While Wine is a compatibility layer that is also used to run windows programs on linux, ReactOS is a whole rewrite of the NT kernel *BUT* it is a completely new write that works *like* the original. As it is a rewrite doing the same things - but probably in a different way than the original one - it is perfectly legal. It is even open source.
I think it is great idea and hope it will be in usable state someday.
BTW: How come there is a German screenshot on dlsquad? I'm just curious, as I'm also German ;-)
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Jordan Running said 2:13PM on 7-14-2006
Fabian: The German screenshot is just a coincidence. It's the first screenshot of the ReactOS Start menu I came across, and I posted it rather hastily.
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Fabian said 7:54PM on 7-14-2006
Jordan: That's what I thought. But I had to ask anyway - could have been an interesting fact behind it. ;-)
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