Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 17 submissions in the queue.

Release of ReactOS 0.4 Brings Open Source Windows Closer to Reality

posted by martyb on Wednesday February 17 2016, @07:09PM   Printer-friendly
from the making-progress dept.
ReactOS is a free and open source implementation of the Windows NT architecture, which intends to provide support for existing applications and drivers, outside of the control of Microsoft. The release of ReactOS 0.4 brings improved file system support, including native, out-of-the-box support for ext2, ext3, and ext4, as well as read-only support for NTFS. Additionally, the bundled version of UniATA was updated to add better support for SATA and PATA devices. Support was generally improved for third-party device drivers, making it substantially easier to install and use real hardware, as opposed to just virtual machines like VirtualBox.

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Release of ReactOS 0.4 Brings Open Source Windows Closer to Reality | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 71 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Wednesday February 17 2016, @09:11PM

    by jmorris (4844) on Wednesday February 17 2016, @09:11PM (#305950)

    Seriously, if they want people to adopt it they need to pick a use case and actually make that work. From there they can add more. But with twenty years (roughly) of effort they still can't point to ONE use case where they can stand behind it and say, "Yes that will work."

    One piece of hardware abandoned by Microsoft and/or the OEM that the drivers load in ReactOS and usable software to drive it is known to reliably run. One obsolete piece of software that won't run on a supported Windows any longer that successfully runs on ReactOS.

    It is all just "try it and see what works. And if it stops working on the next point release, submit a patch or go away."

    Twenty years.

    It is a already a project for 'retro computing' and it isn't in a stable form yet. And worse it shows no sign that it will get to one before some of the original devs are in a retirement home.

    Their problem is a lot of people think what they are doing is "neat" but their itch isn't annoying enough to induce them to join in and help scratch it. The last few Windows versions should have been enough warning to frighten more people over but it didn't. The sheep don't care and the smart ones already left for the fruit or the penguin years ago.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 17 2016, @10:02PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 17 2016, @10:02PM (#305975)

    Here:
    https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=12238&cid=305943 [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 18 2016, @04:09AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 18 2016, @04:09AM (#306137)

      They were asking what it can definitively do now. Not a bunch ifs that it might eventually be able to do