Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Open Source
ReactOS keeps getting better
by Ian Dumych Dec 30th 2007 at 12:00PM
The ReactOS project has one simple goal: to create an Open Source implementation of Windows. It borrows heavily from the WINE project for obvious reasons, but despite this, it is a stand alone OS. Since the last time we covered it, development of ReactOS has progressed very nicely. It now supports several components of OpenOffice, Firefox, and even Remote Desktop sessions.The OS is still in Alpha state, making it more of a developer's plaything than anything else for the time being. However, anyone can try out premade images from the official site for giggles and grins. If you're not brave enough to try it out yourself, the site has plenty of screenshots as well.
With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet.
They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ElliotM said 3:37PM on 1-23-2008
Why haven't Windows users migrated enmass to Linux? Or to any number of other excellent OS's? -- Because its too different from what they're used to and its more convienient to stick it out with Windows then it is to switch.
The day Linux or other OS's become pain-free for the average Windows user to switch over to is the day they will be more successful with that crowd. As much interest as I do have in other OS's, I don't have the time to completely relearn everything about running them to be nearly as proficient as I am with Windows which I have run for years.
Is that fair to other OS's which are just as good if not better then Windows? No, but its what is convienient and that is what guides a lot of people's computing choices -- which is precisely what makes a project such as ReactOS so interesting.
If ReactOS can be entirely like Windows but run faster and leaner without the bloat and flaws of Windows, then I can see ReactOS being highly successful in the future when it is complete.
Reply
George said 12:35AM on 1-24-2008
I just heard about ReactOS, and am very interested in trying it on a spare computer. I still use Win98. I had XP on a computer but wanted to install 98 because that is what I am used to. As another person said, I do not want to have to keep re-learning the OS or other regularly used software. Much if not most newere software is just bloated versions of the older stuff that keeps wanting more and more hardare and power. I dont want bloat, I want simplicity. Microsoft continues to go in the direction of "bloat" and I want no part of it. I do not like XP, not to mention it's set up in a way that everytime I change my hardware, XP goes berzerk because of registration issues.
On top of that, MS continues to abandon the older software they created, in order to sell their new stuff. They already abandoned Win95, 98, ME, 2K and just recently they quit supporting the first version of XP. In other words, if we want to keep using our older computers, we will be running a dead OS with no support and as it looks, lack of applications. I can guarantee you that I will never go to Vista. Most people know it's got lots of problems, is full of advertising, and required a brand new computer with tremendous power. I am not going to keep buying new computers every few years just because MS keeps making the older ones obsolete with their greediness. My older computers and Win98 work just fine, but it's getting harder and harder to find apps that support 98.
I have been thinking what I will do in another year or so when 98 just cant be used anymore due to lack of support. I had already discarded any idea of linux, which I tried and found to be something developed for the "computer geek" type of person who spends their entire life in front of their computer tinkering with it. That's not me, and probably the majority of home computer users, as well as most businesses. I look at it this way. I computer is a tool. Compare this to a hammer. I buy a hammer to pound nails, but if the hammer head was to need to be replaced and modified and adjusted everytime I wanted to pound in a nail, I'd find something else to use. Linux is not and has never been for the casual computer user. Unless they change this, it will never be very popular except in the "geek crowd", which is a whole different class of people.
Knowing that ReactOS is available sounds promising. At least it looks like I wont have to send my computer to the garbage dump in another year or two, and find another hobby outside the internet, and resort back to pencil, paper, and typewriter for my home related business recordkeeping.
One thing I do hope is that ReactOS is compatible with DOS. I have used Dos for about 20 years, and still find it quite useful.
Reply
James A Hulsmann said 12:42PM on 2-02-2008
"Most people know it's got lots of problems, is full of advertising, and required a brand new computer with tremendous power. "
Wow, what a load of FUD!!! Please list these "lots of problems" and be very specific and descriptive. "MY favorite application doesn't work in Vista" is not a valid response.
Also - what advertising are you talking about? I have had Vista Installed since Beta 2 and I don't see ads anywhere
Also _ I am running this OS on a 4 year our gaming laptop and it run fine WITH Aero - so what about "tremendous power" were you saying?
ANYWAY - REACTOS is cool, I hope they can get generate more interest so they can get things done faster, I have been following this for a while and I was hoping they would be further a long by now.
Reply
James A Hulsmann said 12:46PM on 2-02-2008
"What an obscure project. If you really want a free OS, you could just pick an established Linux distribution. If you really want to run Windows programs, just use Wine. I can't picture a very big market for this."
EVERYONE wants a free OS, yet most people stick with Windows.
This is essetially a free, non pirated copy of Windows - you think there is a big market for Wine but not this?
WOW - Linux fanboys am threatened!!! This just proves your true colors. YOur not about open source, your about anything that isnt Windows, even when that copy IS open source and free...
Reply
Rumble said 1:07AM on 12-31-2007
What an obscure project. If you really want a free OS, you could just pick an established Linux distribution. If you really want to run Windows programs, just use Wine. I can't picture a very big market for this.
Reply
Bufsabre said 2:25AM on 12-31-2007
i believe this is a very novel concept, im seriously contemplating getting a very cheap laptop and giving this a try
i love the idea of open source windows
Reply
James said 11:49AM on 12-31-2007
IMHO, the only (!) point of running Windows instead of Linux is to play Windows-only games. It's probably never going to be possible to run e.g. Crysis on a Linux box. Otherwise, pretty much any "business" application can be replaced with an open-source alternative: Word, Excel, etc. --> OpenOffice; most web browsers worth a damn are cross-platform anyway.
I guess this could be useful for people who are used to the Windows interface but want to switch to open-source software, but in that case -- why switch if you're happy?
Reply
James A Hulsmann said 12:46PM on 2-02-2008
"I guess this could be useful for people who are used to the Windows interface but want to switch to open-source software, but in that case -- why switch if you're happy?"
Because its free...
I hate to sound immature, but - DUH! Non-pirated free windows? Its a no brainer.
Did you think about what you posted before you hit "submit"?
new user said 10:32PM on 1-19-2008
I am rebuiling older computers some out of the garbage,for those who are not able to buy new.
I have neither the resources to buy an operating system for each and believe REACTOS TO BE JUST WHAT WE NEED.
However after installing the program;and the drivers install,and the program boots up,I only have a grey screen which goes nowhere.
I have tryed the older versions which do not have what 0.3.3 states to have and at that time they worked. also have tried downloading from other sites with same results.
Any assistance with this problem would be appreciated
Yours truly stumped;.
Reply
bobad said 11:40AM on 1-23-2008
It's an exciting project, as a Windows compatible open source OS would be wildly popular... with 2 conditions. If it would run IE or IE browser overlays, and if it would run DotNet apps. (many popular mainstream apps require DotNet) If it won't run the above, that eliminates 80% of the potential market. It will never fly, and what's the point of even developing it? There are already plenty of OS that will "almost" run Windows apps. I wish the ReactOS developers the best of luck, and hope they play it smart. If they can figure a way to run all Windows apps, they will be overnight heroes, and very rich.
Reply