ReactOS, which is referred to sometimes as the Open source Windows, has received another major update. Following wider UEFI bootability, the OS has now got an upgraded installation setup GUI.
  • ginerel
    18•1 year ago

    I immediately thought about ChatGPT or some other AI assistant with GPT in its name as an alternative to Copilot, lol.

  • @allywilson@sopuli.xyz
    17•1 year ago

    I’ve actually thought for a while now that a big software company should come out and say they support ReactOS for whatever their product is and advertise it like “Full, Oracle 23c DB support on ReactOS - but without the Microsoft tax.”

    Yes, that’s not realistic between Oracle and MS, but it would be such a boon to ReactOS.

    • Nomecks
      14•1 year ago

      I can’t tell if you’re pitching this as an MSSQL alternative or if someone forced you to work with Oracle on Windows. Either way, you poor, poor soul.

    • @phx@lemmy.ca
      3•1 year ago

      For companies that have a legacy product depending on the old OS, but unpatched vulnerabilities because said OS is EoL, maybe this may one day be an appealing option.

  • @rnd@beehaw.org
    10•1 year ago

    Sounds cool, though I’m a bit confused as to why that is such a big priority given that ReactOS currently aims to replicate Windows NT 5.2 (XP x64 / Server 2003), which did not provide graphical set-up*…

    * Technically all Windows versions up until, IIRC, Vista had their install process in two stages: a text-based stage where you’d input the most basic info (what filesystem to install onto, what Windows directory to use, etc.) and a graphical stage once the basic files are installed (where you’d be asked what devices the computer has, whether it’s networked, date/time, etc.). From Vista to the present day, the first stage is graphical as well. ReactOS’ latest release uses the pre-Vista model, but the latest blog posts indicate a move to the more modern one.

    • @beefcat@beehaw.org
      3•1 year ago

      Why do you think aiming for NT 5.2 compatibility should preclude them from building a modern GUI-based installer?

  • @loki@lemmy.mlEnglish
    6•1 year ago

    I’m hearing a few mentions about ReactOS recently. What do people mostly use it for? It seems it’s trying to be a Windows XP clone, can it run latest browsers, which do not support old Windows versions?

    • @davehtaylor@beehaw.org
      2•1 year ago

      It’s not a project used by anyone for production, or even testing environments. It’s mostly just for shits and giggles at this point.

      The problem is that there weren’t enough developers able to help the project early on, and it’s taken so long to make any kind of progress, that the targets they were trying to hit are long, long past. Even if it could be something that could 100% replicate an XP/Server 2003 system, I’m not sure how much utility that would have at this point, at least in a major production environment. Might be good for enthusiasts who still play older games and can’t get a hold of an older copy of Windows. But even for production legacy systems, I can’t see a business decision where they pick a relatively unknown OS like this to replace an XP stack instead of just modernizing. They might as well just stay on XP. And big enterprises don’t choose projects like this for major deployments. They go with the tried and true solutions, regardless of cost or vendor lock-in. It’s why “Wintel” has been a thing for 30 years, and why Oracle still exists.

      I honestly don’t think it will ever be a the drop-in replacement for Windows it aims to be. If it truly got to that point of completion, MS would sue them out of existence. They’d just tie them up in court making them prove it was pure blackbox development until they ran out of money and just folded.