{"id":137,"date":"2007-07-22T03:43:43","date_gmt":"2007-07-22T03:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ubuntucat.wordpress.com\/2007\/07\/22\/reactos-could-be-good-much-much-later\/"},"modified":"2007-07-22T03:43:43","modified_gmt":"2007-07-22T03:43:43","slug":"reactos-could-be-good-much-much-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.psychocats.net\/ubuntucat\/reactos-could-be-good-much-much-later\/","title":{"rendered":"ReactOS could be good… much, much later"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many hopeful migrants to desktop Linux expect Linux to be a cost-free version Windows without problems. It’s with that expectation that many of these potential convertees run back to Windows at the first sign of trouble… or just culture shock. Well, there is a free version of Windows called ReactOS<\/a>. It’s done in partnership with the people who do Wine<\/a> (the Windows compatibility layer for Linux). <\/p>\n

For at least a year since I first heard of the ReactOS project, I’d always wondered how viable it is as a replacement for Windows. In theory, it’s built to have full compatibility with Windows binaries. It’s basically supposed to be open source Windows. <\/p>\n

After trying it out, though, I have to say that the warning on the website (Please bear in mind that ReactOS 0.3.3-RC is still in alpha stage, meaning it is not feature complete and is not recommended for everyday use.<\/b><\/i>) is not just a disclaimer. It’s absolutely true. In fact, good luck running ReactOS for more than five minutes without it crashing on you. <\/p>\n

The ReactOS download page<\/a> has several options—an installation CD, a live CD, preloaded Qemu for Windows, and preloaded VMWare virtual machine. I went for the latter, which was only a 21 MB download. I had VMWare Player installed on Ubuntu, so I figured—why not? <\/p>\n

<\/a>
Well, the bootup screen is black… looks a lot like Grub.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Then, you get some verbose loading stuff. The entire boot process, even in VMWare is fast. I didn’t time it, but it felt as if the boot time was about ten seconds. <\/p>\n

<\/a>
You get a standard Windows-looking screen. <\/p>\n

<\/a>
The Start menu looks a lot like Windows’ Start menu. The interface for ReactOS (again, even in VMWare) is snappy and feels like a lightweight window manager (more like Fluxbox than Gnome or KDE). <\/p>\n

<\/a>
When you launch Explorer, you get the option for spatial mode and a split window. <\/p>\n

<\/a>
Here it is with a split screen. <\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a>
If you try to browse to the web, you have to install ActiveX first. Weird. <\/p>\n

<\/a>
Ah, but if you try to actually visit a website (here I am trying to download Internet Explorer off the Microsoft website… then you get the freeze-up. Mouse cursor won’t move. You don’t even get a “blue screen of death.” <\/p>\n

<\/a>
I tried booting it up again in VMWare. Trying to get to the web again gives me this wonderful screen. <\/p>\n

So when they say it’s in the alpha stages, they’re not kidding. Stay away from ReactOS unless you’re a developer who can help. I think it’s not even ready for testing and bug reports. <\/p>\n

If you want Windows, stick with Windows. If you want something else, then you can try Linux. Open source Windows full compatibility is far, far off. <\/p>\n

Further Reading<\/b>
Linux is not<\/i> Windows<\/a>
Here’s an idea – YOU make it more like Windows!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many hopeful migrants to desktop Linux expect Linux to be a cost-free version Windows without problems. It’s with that expectation that many of these potential convertees run back to Windows at the first sign of trouble… or just culture shock. Well, there is a free version of Windows called ReactOS. It’s done in partnership with… Continue reading ReactOS could be good… much, much later<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,12,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computers","category-linux","category-windows","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psychocats.net\/ubuntucat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psychocats.net\/ubuntucat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psychocats.net\/ubuntucat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psychocats.net\/ubuntucat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psychocats.net\/ubuntucat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.psychocats.net\/ubuntucat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psychocats.net\/ubuntucat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psychocats.net\/ubuntucat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psychocats.net\/ubuntucat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}