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ReactOS 0.3.14 Released With Improved Networking Stack

Posted by Unknown on from the alternative-os-for-the-alternative-hacker dept.

An anonymous reader wrote in with news of the latest release of ReactOS, a project to create a complete reimplementation of Windows. The highlights of this release are the integration of a new network stack based upon lwIP, the ability to build using Microsoft's C compiler, and Wifi support. There are a few options for trying it out (emulator image and a livecd amongst others) and source code over at Sourceforge.

3 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. What's the point??!?!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are many possible reasons why people want a functioning clone of MS Windows that can use the same drivers etc.
    If nothing else, it's an interesting project.

    Why not Linux? Because drivers don't always work. Why not WINE? ReactOS and WINE share a lot of code, but WINE is aiming to solve a different problem. Why not just use old MS Windows? Because the source is not there, and neither is support.

    People would find a use for a Free MS Windows clone the same way that people find a use for a Free MS DOS clone (FreeDOS).

    I for one am excited about ReactOS. Here's hoping they continue the good work for many years

    1. Re:What's the point??!?!?! by johanwanderer · · Score: 5, Interesting

      With Windows XP going away, in a few years you might be looking for an old box to run your favorite program. In another few years you might be completely out of luck. Even further out, what if Microsoft went bankrupt (or bought by Apple, Google, RedHat, whoever) and their OS division is shelved?

      Projects like ReactOS, Wine, DOSBox, etc. allow you to have another possible path in that uncertain future. Your program might not work out-of-the-box, but you have the source to tinker with and try to get it to work.

      That is probably the same reason for running Wine on Windows, which is probably better than running an old program within a virtual machine.

      Soon enough, you will probably run all of your programs in a browser anyway. But I digress :)

  2. Only one minor disappointment. by Lose · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They almost finished getting the new USB stack up and running in a different branch, but it isn't reliable (or stable even in most virtual environments) to sync it into the main branch prior to release. That's fine in a virtual environment, but on real hardware it would be nice for a few different reasons (ReactOS on USB may be possible soon because of this, maybe even debug output over USB, to name a few).

    I'll just keep building the USB branch until then.