ReactOS

Reader supplied reviews for ReactOS Average rating 5.7 from 14 review(s) Version: 0.4.14 Rating: 3 Date: 2023-07-27 Votes: 21 Noble but unrealistic. Too far behind to catch up without a miracle. In compatibility and market niche it is outclassed by your pick of Linux configurations. I believe it will never be more than a curiosity. Still, it deserves to exist for novelty and proof of concept. To be clear, from a pros perspective it's a noble idea and I like the thought of an open Windows, but I have to ask if windows was really meant to be open in the first place. It seems at every turn even from early on Microsoft has meant its design to be anti competition, and this is the result: something that can never be what Windows is, because Windows is the product of countless paid hours of development and volunteer hours to curb MS's edges and free mass market testing, with hardware leaning into its support and every whim when it wants to change something. So you get to the major con: ReactOS cannot catch up. It will never get the bug testers, the developers, or the impetuous to stand head to head with wherever Windows is running to. If Windows is replaced I think it will be by an innovative Linux implementation or something else that goes away from the Windows design mindset. Success requires innovation, not just reacting. If you want older compatibility you can use a carefully tuned linux setup or brave an older Windows, which is still more practical than React. If you are looking for a novelty to contribute to this is a neat idea, stay far away if you want a daily driver. Version: 0.4.14 Rating: 10 Date: 2022-06-19 Votes: 25 An interesting non-Linux distro. This is an open source implementation of Windows that I wish would get more help and funding to keep it much more up to date and competitive to Windows. I have used it to try it out and I’m impressed. There are things lacking here and there because as I say with funding and it needs more people contributing bug fixes and helping the developers get further along. That’s what any open-source operating system needs. I can only think of the word admirable is what the developers here are doing. I really hope this project keeps going, I’d love to have an open-source and compatible implementation of Windows for everyday use, we’d not have to deal with Microsoft’s bs, user-unfriendliness and spyware. Version: 0.4.14 Rating: 1 Date: 2022-05-23 Votes: 8 Don't waste your time! While the concept is cool, it is just for fun. Functionality is near zero. I can't think of any reason anyone would use this at all! Pros: looks like WindowsNT, shell functions much like WindowsNT. Cons: It is not WindowsNT nor is it good for anything these days. No one runs Windows Server2003 today unless it's on some obscure server running some really, really old legacy software like say maybe a HID door access control program. I tried to load several old WindowsNT based programs I had laying around and none of them really worked as they should and either crashed or refused to run at all. See all 14 reader reviews of ReactOS...