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ReactOS 0.3.1 Released

Posted by kdawson on from the fresh-bits dept.

fireballrus writes with news of the release of ReactOS 0.3.1 — press release, changelog, download packages. ReactOS is "an open source effort to develop a quality operating system that is compatible with applications and drivers written for the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems (NT4, 2000, XP, 2003)." The press release notes: "Please don't forget this is an alpha-stage operating system, which means it is not suitable to replace your main OS. Also, this release is aimed to be run mostly in virtualizers / emulators (like QEmu, VMWare, Parallels, etc): because of the big amount of changes, our development team was not able to test/fix all problems which arise when running ReactOS on real hardware."

11 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. Nice to see them plugging ahead by dreamchaser · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've messed with ReactOS on and off for awhile. They really deserve some kudos for what they've accomplished to date, even if the system isn't really usable yet. I strongly encourage you to check them out if you're at all interested in the project; they've done some nice coding to date but can use all the help they can get.

    As mentioned, it's perfect to diddle with in a VM environment, though I have loaded it on a dedicated test machine before and that was a lot of fun too.

    1. Re:Nice to see them plugging ahead by ZephyrXero · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Is there a possibility of running this XP clone on non x86 hardware?"
      maybe if you were running it through an emulator...

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
  2. Cool project by 26199 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The legal issues are kinda scary but it looks like they have them under control. All respect to them for attempting the impossible... and from the look of it, they're a good way to succeeding :)

    1. Re:Cool project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The legal issues associated with reverse engineering an operating system to run programs originally written for windows should not be any scarier than those associated with reverse engineering (clone) the hardware to run software written for IBM PC. IBM had deep pockets and a penchant for enforcing its large IP portfolio, but the cloners won.

    2. Re:Cool project by ScrewMaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      On the other hand, at that point in time IBM wasn't really all that interested in stopping the development of clone PCs, for a variety of reasons. Had they really chosen to throw their weight around, they most certainly could have, in which case someone else would have taken over (which might have been a good thing for world of personal computing, when you get right down to it.)

      Apple, in fact, spent far more time in court suing the likes of Franklin Computer (who, in many ways, had a better product.) Granted, that may have been simply because IBM didn't perceive the personal computer as being a big part of their future, at that point in time, since big iron was still their bread-and-butter. However, if you want to get into the history of anticompetitive behavior at IBM, check out out how they dealt with anyone making plug-compatible components for their mainframe systems in the 60's and 70's. That was a very different story. There's a guy named Amdahl that would be happy to enlighten you.

      Besides, the legal climate for reverse-engineering is decidedly less friendly to cloners than it was in, say, 1981.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  3. But I have to know... by Arceliar · · Score: 4, Funny

    does it run cygwin?

  4. Re:R-e-a-c-t-i-n-g .... by Jartan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why? Such wasted effort to duplicate a flawed system of software.


    Well it would be interesting to see if the effort allows them to fix some of the flaws and continue to run a lot of the software. For me personally I look at this sort of an effort as a perfect solution to the main thing that keeps me from ditching MS: games.
  5. How to Avoid Vista by rueger · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The only reason why a lot of us would upgrade to Vista is because Microsoft will stop supporting our current OS with bug fixes and security updates. Vista to me looks like a nightmare of DRM and restrictions on what I would want to do, but I can see my current Win 2K install becoming as outdated and unsupported as Windows 98.

    If React OS can keep me running my current Windows apps in a sensible, secure, and supported environment, then I can avoid Vista. That means less headaches, and less expense.

    Really, these folks may have found a really nice niche.

    (Honestly, looking at Vista make me think that this is the time when someone, whether Linux, Mac, or something else, could make significant inroads.)

    --
    Three Squirrels
    1. Re:How to Avoid Vista by RLiegh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      >If React OS can keep me running my current Windows apps in a sensible, secure, and supported environment, then I can avoid Vista. That means less headaches, and less expense.

      Which is exactly why Microsoft will dig deep into it's legal fund and patent portfolio and nuke reactos off the face of the planet the very second that ReactOS becomes a practical alternative to Windows.

  6. Re:R-e-a-c-t-i-n-g .... by catbutt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because most applications that people use are written for Windows.

    Once you give people other options for running those apps, that aren't controlled by a company trying to protect their monopoly, you open up a lot of possibilities for the industry to move away from Microsoft lock-in.

  7. nice to see this progress but by sentientbrendan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    my understanding is that their compatibility with win32 is largely based on wine, and so it has most of the same bugs running win32, and then some.

    What I'd really like to see is some major company getting behind reactos and wine. Getting a portable win32 layer really working to the point where it's no longer just a toy is going to take a major effort, more of an effort than the open source community seems willing to put forward at this time. Working win32 is a real possibility, but it needs a lot of people to get behind it.