11 ms·

> soon (well, years, but still) people will be using it everywhere as a replacement for Windows. No they won't. It's a fringe OS that requires technical expert

> soon (well, years, but still) people will be using it everywhere as a replacement for Windows. No they won't. It's a fringe OS that requires technical expertise to install. Not only that but it looks like "old Windows". Users won't want to work with a Windows from a decade ago. Not only that but it'll have bugs and no support. You'll see tiny pockets of people using it but as Microsoft gets closer and closer to simply having a free OS it doesn't seem likely anyone would ever use this OS for anything beyond "hey, that's cool!".

robertAngst 9y ago
Two things >It lights a fire under M$'s asses to make windows competitive >Adoption is slow but exponential. Today is the first day I learned about ReactOS and I'm excited. I can program and I have money. If people can find value in it, adoption will grow.
- goatlover 9y ago
  So it will become this is the year of ReactOS on the desktop?
- DEFCON28 9y ago
  Windows 10 is good (really!) if you haven't taken a look at in a while. I switched from Mac on the Desktop to Windows 10 because I needed "pro" hardware (NVIDIA GPU, 1 TB RAM, etc) and it works just fine. They've really been on the ball in the last couple of years.
  - wincy 9y ago
    It’d be good if it didn’t have all the damned spam baked in with non obvious ways to remove it. I got so mad the FIFTH time windows 10 pro installed Bubble Witch Saga and Candy Crush on my system. After seeing that I really want to save up and buy only Macs from now on.
    - swiley 9y ago
      Why not just run a FOSS OS?
      - zitterbewegung 9y ago
        Hardware support of laptops for FOSS is not that good unless you restrict yourself to Dell or IBM.
        pavs 9y ago
        Also has very good support on Lenovo (in my experience), which would make 3 of the largest PC/Laptop manufacturers in the world that has good linux support. Here is a list of certified vendors for Ubuntu: https://certification.ubuntu.com/desktop/ https://certification.ubuntu.com/desktop/
        eitland 9y ago
        My HP laptops have also had zero problems running Linux for years.
        as1mov 9y ago
        It hasn't been the case since a long time really. I have used it on enterprise HP and Lenovo laptops and everything works flawlessly.
        Yetanfou 9y ago
        A strange argument: hardware support of laptops for MacOS is officially non-existent unless you restrict yourself to Apple. As soon as you're willing to consider 'Hackintosh' installations you should also consider Linux distributions as those are generally far easier to install and maintain.
        orionblastar 9y ago
        IBM no longer makes desktop PC s or laptops. Sold the designs to Lenovo years ago. I had HP and Compaq laptops that ran Linux as well.
        9y ago
  - mastazi 9y ago
    > Windows 10 is good Did Linux succeed because other UNIXes were bad? In my opinion, the reason why we need ReactOS is independent from whether Windows 10 is good or not. And yeah, I agree besides the privacy issues, Win 10 is pretty good
    - earenndil 9y ago
      Linux succeeded because bsd had legal issues.
      - bad_user 9y ago
        People like to bring that up, but Linux also succeeded because of an open development model that BSD lacked. Linus Tolvards is basically the poster boy of Open Source.
        _o_ 9y ago
        For desktop, I use opensuse (just clarification, to avoid holly wars here). I have migrated my servers to FreeBSD not due to problems with kernel, but due to everything else, the distributions are really doing horrible job maintaining userspace, not to mention failures like systemd. Also trusting data to linux is an interesting ride, from btrfs failures to "merging" (pun intended) those failures to zfs (https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/issues/7401 https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/issues/7401). FreeBSD has much slower pace of development and this is good for stability. Zfs is rock solid beeing part of OS for decade, docker was ported to it in 14 days, due to jails which are there for 15 years+ and field tested for years (while I was listening from linux guys years that chroot is all you need). I wont complain about linux features, but for BSD, I know that after update everything will work exactly like it worked before and this is more important for my bussiness than all the bleading edge features. And then you have all the other issues that Linus explains here, for debian but same problems other distributions have (and yeah, I am just a bit younger and highly proficient in c/c++ on multiple operating systems, developing system level application for more then 20 years, that is probably why I share his opinion): https://youtu.be/1Mg5_gxNXTo?t=459 https://youtu.be/1Mg5_gxNXTo?t=459 Linux has succeeded as it was fast by cutting corners in development. And it worked for a while, now problems started to stockpile and turtle is starting to catch up. Regarding the "open model", I don't understand what would that be, BSD license is more permissive than GPL? Not to mention a shame when (https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-beats-internal-legal-threat/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-beats-internal-legal-thr...) kernel developer for linux started suing companies not releasing the source code. Just to wrap it up, if ReactOS will be able to keep the pace of development with the Windows changes it has a good chance that the year of ReactOS on desktop will be much sooner than the year of Linux on desktop. And this is what we want, not Linux OS on desktop but Open source OS on desktop, right?
  - kbenson 9y ago
    It is good. The privacy concerns are real though.
  - gregmac 9y ago
    ..once you fix a few things [1]: > This Windows 10 Setup Script turns off a bunch of unnecessary Windows 10 telemetery, bloatware, & privacy things. Not guaranteed to catch everything. Review and tweak before running. Reboot after running. Scripts for reversing are included and commented. [1] https://gist.github.com/alirobe/7f3b34ad89a159e6daa1 https://gist.github.com/alirobe/7f3b34ad89a159e6daa1
    - AstralStorm 9y ago
      Very guaranteed to not turn off Cortana in fact. Goodbye 300 MB of RAM.
  - SmellyGeekBoy 9y ago
    I use Fedora on the desktop but keep a copy of Windows 10 in VirtualBox for times when I need to use Photoshop (I'm a web developer) or some other Windows-only tool. I recently updated to the "Creators Update" and couldn't believe the amount of shit that popped up after the install asking me pointless questions, trying to integrate with things, trying to get me to activate OneDrive etc. It's not just post-install either, this stuff pops up when you're in the middle of something else! The thing I like most about Gnome is how it just stays out of the way. I don't use my OS, I use the applications I have installed. The shell should provide an optimal environment for them to run in and an easy way to launch them - and nothing else. Don't get me wrong, I've been a fan of Windows for a long time and 10 is the best version for years, but the popular Linux distros and macOS seem to do a better job of staying out of the way of the user. I think Microsoft are losing track with all the "value added" stuff they're constantly trying to foist on people - and don't even get me started on the tracking.
- __sr__ 9y ago
  >It lights a fire under M$'s asses to make windows competitive Err... no. Not unless the installed base reaches a critical mass. And certainly not when the market share is not even 0.1%. macOS (or even desktop Linux) has a higher installed base and they don’t bother Microsoft significantly. I’d be more optimistic if the OS had not been around for two decades. It had its chance when the likes of Vista was released. If it didn’t make a dent back then, it is not going to make one now - especially since Windows is at its best in terms of usability. Sure there are concerns about privacy, but those didn’t prevent Google from acquiring a (almost) monopoly in mobile market. Microsoft’s own attempts went nowhere — and they have infinitely deeper pockets compared to people behind ReactOS. And even if it does gain momentum, I am fairly sure that Microsoft will find a a way to sue them into oblivion.
  - drdaeman 9y ago
    > (or even desktop Linux) has a higher installed base and they don’t bother Microsoft significantly. Except for they did. I'm pretty sure WSL was about developers who had preferred GNU/Linux-based systems (or macOS, since it can be compatible for some cases) for work, not about just running some *nix server software on Windows machines.
    - __sr__ 9y ago
      I said “significantly” — macOS and Linux have existed for ages, yet Microsoft is starting with WSL just now. Also, as far as I know, WSL is a by-product of the Poject Astoria - not something Microsoft set out to do. They probably thought, “We’ve done most of the work anyway, might as well get something out of it.”
_o_ 9y ago
Windows have become bloated to the point I have rather installed openSUSE and after ~20 years I am not touching them any more. I don't like linux (it has another set of problems) and I would be very glad if I could use ReactOS and instead using firewall, just recompile the winsock dll with my own instructions (just one example). Windows will never be free os, you will pay heavly with your privacy and from what I have seen on GUI changes, they are more moving into direction of cloud (minimal installation on pc, the PAID resources on cloud) than beeing free. ReactOS devs, good work and thank you, I hope I will be able to use it in the future.
- dtech 9y ago
  > Windows have become bloated I don't agree. Vista was a mess but they seem to have made such tight performance budgets for 7, 8 and 10 that any computer which can run the 11-year-old Vista can also run 10.
  - ZenoArrow 9y ago
    Depends on which definition of bloated you choose. If you look at install size on disk it's clear that Windows 10 requires more space than Windows 7. In contrast, you can easily create a usable Linux system (including a window manager, not just a minimal server install) that takes up half the space of a Windows 7 install.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 9y ago
    10 is bloated by most metrics. Applications you don't need or want are bundled by default, it has a 20+GB install size, two separate sets of overlapping configuration utilities, a built-in HTTP server, built-in adware, etc. There has been a lot of good work done on the underlying system, but it's had a ton of useless buggy crap piled on top of it.
  - _o_ 9y ago
    Just check kernel32.dll, it was CLEAN for years, now there are references to .net framework and it is becoming a mess. Believe me, Windows are becoming a mess, I never liked linux (actually I hated it) but the directions that Windows are taking are worrying (it is the same perspective when I say linux is becoming a bloated piece of , with each release it is becoming worse but at least it is open source. But dont get me wrong, I am writting this from purely technical perspective, for a typical user, everything is just fine. No need to worry, except maybe Windows 365 in 2020. (I will refrain from further commenting as my technical perspective is hitting into large fanbase of both systems and karma here is really not beeing able to handle it. At the end it is the terror of the less technical average.)
shmerl 9y ago
People are more likely to use Linux with Wine to run some Windows programs. Since it actually produces a working result. But if ReactOS can be practically comparable - it can get some traction too.
- Sander_Marechal 9y ago
  IIRC Wine and ReactOS are actually closely aligned. Many improvements made in ReactOS are ported to Wine and vice-versa.
TeMPOraL 9y ago
> Users won't want to work with a Windows from a decade ago. Not only that but it'll have bugs and no support. Depending on the age group, I guess. I know plenty of people who would say that Windows had its peak usability around Windows 2000/2003 and only got heavier and more confusing later on. If I know that ReactOS had a good chance of running most regular Windows applications, I'd install it on my mother's laptop in a heartbeat, and she would love to see the familiar, lightweight OS.
- smt88 9y ago
  > * I know plenty of people who would say that Windows had its peak usability around Windows 2000/2003 and only got heavier and more confusing later on.* Given Microsoft's mostly successful effort to make Windows more friendly to the user, I find it hard to believe any of these people have extensive experience with Windows 7+
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    Oh, but they did. There was a series of problems with Vista that pissed people off, then there was the quite-ok Windows 7, and then Microsoft screwed everything up with Windows 8. The irony is, they've managed to fix a lot of Windows 8 UX problems in Windows 10, but then the telemetry stories and in-your-face pushing of the upgrade from 8 to 10 left some people I know stranded at 8 and afraid to try out 10. I guess this'll change in the next hardware upgrade cycle...
    - cm2187 9y ago
      They fixed some UX problems but left others. Two control panels, massive grey buttons that feel odd when used with a mouse, dysfunctional and random start menu, full screen modal notifications (windows server 2016), etc
      - michrassena 9y ago
        The two control panels thing is maddening. It's just embarrassing they've let this mess escape beta. It should be one or the other, not an unevenly applied mixture. The lack of cohesiveness makes the whole system look amateurish.
andreiw 9y ago
Not to invalidate all of your arguments, but it does “just install” in a VM without needing technical experience. To reach any mass of users (outside of turnkey solutions where the end users may not know or care), you need commercial support and the later needs concrete identified market segments. To parallel Wine - ROS needs its own CrossOver (but not Cedega).
- chris_wot 9y ago
  I agree - I literally downloaded the ISO, booted it up, it installed in VirtualBox. Of course, the network driver didn't work, sadly :(
  - amaccuish 9y ago
    change to use pc net iii, there's a driver for that built in
stctgion 9y ago
I can see ruining old but required Windows binaries without paying for a Windows license as a totally valid use case.
sspiff 9y ago
I know a bunch of people (mostly gamers) who refuse to upgrade from Windows 7 to 8 or 10, mostly because of usability and privacy concerns. Eventually, they'll have to (DirectX 12, but I'm sure there's a ton of APIs for non-games as well and drivers will stop being updated for Win7). But if ReactOS can reach a level of maturity and compatibility to please such people, there's a sizeable niche there of people who: 1. won't switch away from Windows to Linux or BSD, 2. but would be willing to adopt a familiar and compatible operating system.
- majewsky 9y ago
  Please don't use code blocks for normal text. This is frustratingly difficult to read on a phone where the code block becomes a scrolling container.
  - sspiff 9y ago
    Sorry, I didn't intend to make it a code block, just wanted to indent the list headers. Is there a list syntax for HN comments?
    - majewsky 9y ago
      Not really, but it works well enough if you put each item on a separate paragraph (i.e. with blank lines before and afterwards) and prefix it with a bullet point etc.: - Then it looks like this. - And still flows nicely.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- EamonnMR 9y ago
  I definitely count myself as one of those gamers who hasn't moved off 7 yet for my gaming and music production. On a machine like that, windows is just a layer between the game and the hardware and the less other stuff, the better. 8 and 10 have little value add for someone who just wants program compatibility-7 was plenty stable.
flohofwoe 9y ago
To an average user, the latest Windows versions really don't add anything useful over WinXP or even Win2k. Many things got worse, like discovering and starting installed applications. Slap a modern UI theme on XP, and nobody will notice that it's a nearly 20 year old OS.
jonathanstrange 9y ago
I have high hopes for ReactOS, because pro audio software is currently the only thing that really keeps me tied to Windows. (I use GNU/Linux for work already for more than a decade.) Unfortunately, last time I looked audio software and drivers weren't well supported on ReactOS. If I could get Reaper, my audio interface and commercial VSTs running on it, I'd ditch Windows forever.
nashashmi 9y ago
I currently use win 7 in win 98 style. It is faster on the graphics and the processor.
NoGravitas 9y ago
I installed ReactOS in a VM, because I have one Windows app I need (Adobe Digital Editions for reading library ebooks), and I figured it would be easier than trying to get it running in Wine. But the current ADE requires Windows 7, so I was out of luck. Probably worth trying the new version.
arghwhat 9y ago
> It's a fringe OS that requires technical expertise to install. That's fixable (and not different from Windows). > Not only that but it looks like "old Windows" That is by far the easiest fix of all. People just care more about making things work right now. Plus, a lot of people actually preferred the older style. > Not only that but it'll have bugs Welcome to software. Windows is also full of bugs. > You'll see tiny pockets of people using it but as Microsoft gets closer and closer to simply having a free OS it doesn't seem likely anyone would ever use this OS for anything beyond "hey, that's cool!". I think it might end up being quite big quite soon: There's a bunch of proprietary software out there that is old, and not Windows 10 compatible. Things like car diagnostics software. If ReactOS gives them a way to get things working without Win10, I'm sure they'd eat it right up. ReactOS just isn't ready for that yet. It's still major version 0.
Kadin 9y ago
> Not only that but it looks like "old Windows". Not convinced that's a weakness as opposed to a strength. Every time Microsoft changes literally anything about their UI, they alienate a legion of people who suddenly feel their workflow and productivity has been irretrievably broken.
e12e 9y ago
> as Microsoft gets closer and closer to simply having a free OS it doesn't seem likely anyone would ever use this OS for anything beyond "hey, that's cool!". Free OS? Even bog standard windows 10 pro (non-oem) is hardly free. Never mind a datacenter server license (aka you need to run 10s of instances in vms in order to get anything line useful utilisation from this modern server).
michrassena 9y ago
I think you're entirely right, but I wonder if there's not some life left in it down the road. Whenever I've needed DOS, which isn't that often anymore, I reach for FreeDOS, not MS-DOS. Who knows what deeply legacy systems might be around in 30 years? But then again, it's hard to imagine something as ubiquitous as a Windows installation disk being unobtainable on the used market.

robertAngst 9y ago

Two things >It lights a fire under M$'s asses to make windows competitive >Adoption is slow but exponential. Today is the first day I learned about ReactOS and I'm excited. I can program and I have money. If people can find value in it, adoption will grow.

goatlover 9y ago
So it will become this is the year of ReactOS on the desktop?
DEFCON28 9y ago
Windows 10 is good (really!) if you haven't taken a look at in a while. I switched from Mac on the Desktop to Windows 10 because I needed "pro" hardware (NVIDIA GPU, 1 TB RAM, etc) and it works just fine. They've really been on the ball in the last couple of years.
- wincy 9y ago
  It’d be good if it didn’t have all the damned spam baked in with non obvious ways to remove it. I got so mad the FIFTH time windows 10 pro installed Bubble Witch Saga and Candy Crush on my system. After seeing that I really want to save up and buy only Macs from now on.
  - swiley 9y ago
    Why not just run a FOSS OS?
    - zitterbewegung 9y ago
      Hardware support of laptops for FOSS is not that good unless you restrict yourself to Dell or IBM.
      - pavs 9y ago
        Also has very good support on Lenovo (in my experience), which would make 3 of the largest PC/Laptop manufacturers in the world that has good linux support. Here is a list of certified vendors for Ubuntu: https://certification.ubuntu.com/desktop/ https://certification.ubuntu.com/desktop/
      - eitland 9y ago
        My HP laptops have also had zero problems running Linux for years.
      - as1mov 9y ago
        It hasn't been the case since a long time really. I have used it on enterprise HP and Lenovo laptops and everything works flawlessly.
      - Yetanfou 9y ago
        A strange argument: hardware support of laptops for MacOS is officially non-existent unless you restrict yourself to Apple. As soon as you're willing to consider 'Hackintosh' installations you should also consider Linux distributions as those are generally far easier to install and maintain.
      - orionblastar 9y ago
        IBM no longer makes desktop PC s or laptops. Sold the designs to Lenovo years ago. I had HP and Compaq laptops that ran Linux as well.
      - 9y ago
- mastazi 9y ago
  > Windows 10 is good Did Linux succeed because other UNIXes were bad? In my opinion, the reason why we need ReactOS is independent from whether Windows 10 is good or not. And yeah, I agree besides the privacy issues, Win 10 is pretty good
  - earenndil 9y ago
    Linux succeeded because bsd had legal issues.
    - bad_user 9y ago
      People like to bring that up, but Linux also succeeded because of an open development model that BSD lacked. Linus Tolvards is basically the poster boy of Open Source.
      - _o_ 9y ago
        For desktop, I use opensuse (just clarification, to avoid holly wars here). I have migrated my servers to FreeBSD not due to problems with kernel, but due to everything else, the distributions are really doing horrible job maintaining userspace, not to mention failures like systemd. Also trusting data to linux is an interesting ride, from btrfs failures to "merging" (pun intended) those failures to zfs (https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/issues/7401 https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/issues/7401). FreeBSD has much slower pace of development and this is good for stability. Zfs is rock solid beeing part of OS for decade, docker was ported to it in 14 days, due to jails which are there for 15 years+ and field tested for years (while I was listening from linux guys years that chroot is all you need). I wont complain about linux features, but for BSD, I know that after update everything will work exactly like it worked before and this is more important for my bussiness than all the bleading edge features. And then you have all the other issues that Linus explains here, for debian but same problems other distributions have (and yeah, I am just a bit younger and highly proficient in c/c++ on multiple operating systems, developing system level application for more then 20 years, that is probably why I share his opinion): https://youtu.be/1Mg5_gxNXTo?t=459 https://youtu.be/1Mg5_gxNXTo?t=459 Linux has succeeded as it was fast by cutting corners in development. And it worked for a while, now problems started to stockpile and turtle is starting to catch up. Regarding the "open model", I don't understand what would that be, BSD license is more permissive than GPL? Not to mention a shame when (https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-beats-internal-legal-threat/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-beats-internal-legal-thr...) kernel developer for linux started suing companies not releasing the source code. Just to wrap it up, if ReactOS will be able to keep the pace of development with the Windows changes it has a good chance that the year of ReactOS on desktop will be much sooner than the year of Linux on desktop. And this is what we want, not Linux OS on desktop but Open source OS on desktop, right?
- kbenson 9y ago
  It is good. The privacy concerns are real though.
- gregmac 9y ago
  ..once you fix a few things [1]: > This Windows 10 Setup Script turns off a bunch of unnecessary Windows 10 telemetery, bloatware, & privacy things. Not guaranteed to catch everything. Review and tweak before running. Reboot after running. Scripts for reversing are included and commented. [1] https://gist.github.com/alirobe/7f3b34ad89a159e6daa1 https://gist.github.com/alirobe/7f3b34ad89a159e6daa1
  - AstralStorm 9y ago
    Very guaranteed to not turn off Cortana in fact. Goodbye 300 MB of RAM.
- SmellyGeekBoy 9y ago
  I use Fedora on the desktop but keep a copy of Windows 10 in VirtualBox for times when I need to use Photoshop (I'm a web developer) or some other Windows-only tool. I recently updated to the "Creators Update" and couldn't believe the amount of shit that popped up after the install asking me pointless questions, trying to integrate with things, trying to get me to activate OneDrive etc. It's not just post-install either, this stuff pops up when you're in the middle of something else! The thing I like most about Gnome is how it just stays out of the way. I don't use my OS, I use the applications I have installed. The shell should provide an optimal environment for them to run in and an easy way to launch them - and nothing else. Don't get me wrong, I've been a fan of Windows for a long time and 10 is the best version for years, but the popular Linux distros and macOS seem to do a better job of staying out of the way of the user. I think Microsoft are losing track with all the "value added" stuff they're constantly trying to foist on people - and don't even get me started on the tracking.
__sr__ 9y ago
>It lights a fire under M$'s asses to make windows competitive Err... no. Not unless the installed base reaches a critical mass. And certainly not when the market share is not even 0.1%. macOS (or even desktop Linux) has a higher installed base and they don’t bother Microsoft significantly. I’d be more optimistic if the OS had not been around for two decades. It had its chance when the likes of Vista was released. If it didn’t make a dent back then, it is not going to make one now - especially since Windows is at its best in terms of usability. Sure there are concerns about privacy, but those didn’t prevent Google from acquiring a (almost) monopoly in mobile market. Microsoft’s own attempts went nowhere — and they have infinitely deeper pockets compared to people behind ReactOS. And even if it does gain momentum, I am fairly sure that Microsoft will find a a way to sue them into oblivion.
- drdaeman 9y ago
  > (or even desktop Linux) has a higher installed base and they don’t bother Microsoft significantly. Except for they did. I'm pretty sure WSL was about developers who had preferred GNU/Linux-based systems (or macOS, since it can be compatible for some cases) for work, not about just running some *nix server software on Windows machines.
  - __sr__ 9y ago
    I said “significantly” — macOS and Linux have existed for ages, yet Microsoft is starting with WSL just now. Also, as far as I know, WSL is a by-product of the Poject Astoria - not something Microsoft set out to do. They probably thought, “We’ve done most of the work anyway, might as well get something out of it.”

_o_ 9y ago

Windows have become bloated to the point I have rather installed openSUSE and after ~20 years I am not touching them any more. I don't like linux (it has another set of problems) and I would be very glad if I could use ReactOS and instead using firewall, just recompile the winsock dll with my own instructions (just one example). Windows will never be free os, you will pay heavly with your privacy and from what I have seen on GUI changes, they are more moving into direction of cloud (minimal installation on pc, the PAID resources on cloud) than beeing free. ReactOS devs, good work and thank you, I hope I will be able to use it in the future.

dtech 9y ago
> Windows have become bloated I don't agree. Vista was a mess but they seem to have made such tight performance budgets for 7, 8 and 10 that any computer which can run the 11-year-old Vista can also run 10.
- ZenoArrow 9y ago
  Depends on which definition of bloated you choose. If you look at install size on disk it's clear that Windows 10 requires more space than Windows 7. In contrast, you can easily create a usable Linux system (including a window manager, not just a minimal server install) that takes up half the space of a Windows 7 install.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 9y ago
  10 is bloated by most metrics. Applications you don't need or want are bundled by default, it has a 20+GB install size, two separate sets of overlapping configuration utilities, a built-in HTTP server, built-in adware, etc. There has been a lot of good work done on the underlying system, but it's had a ton of useless buggy crap piled on top of it.
- _o_ 9y ago
  Just check kernel32.dll, it was CLEAN for years, now there are references to .net framework and it is becoming a mess. Believe me, Windows are becoming a mess, I never liked linux (actually I hated it) but the directions that Windows are taking are worrying (it is the same perspective when I say linux is becoming a bloated piece of , with each release it is becoming worse but at least it is open source. But dont get me wrong, I am writting this from purely technical perspective, for a typical user, everything is just fine. No need to worry, except maybe Windows 365 in 2020. (I will refrain from further commenting as my technical perspective is hitting into large fanbase of both systems and karma here is really not beeing able to handle it. At the end it is the terror of the less technical average.)

shmerl 9y ago

People are more likely to use Linux with Wine to run some Windows programs. Since it actually produces a working result. But if ReactOS can be practically comparable - it can get some traction too.

Sander_Marechal 9y ago
IIRC Wine and ReactOS are actually closely aligned. Many improvements made in ReactOS are ported to Wine and vice-versa.

TeMPOraL 9y ago

> Users won't want to work with a Windows from a decade ago. Not only that but it'll have bugs and no support. Depending on the age group, I guess. I know plenty of people who would say that Windows had its peak usability around Windows 2000/2003 and only got heavier and more confusing later on. If I know that ReactOS had a good chance of running most regular Windows applications, I'd install it on my mother's laptop in a heartbeat, and she would love to see the familiar, lightweight OS.

smt88 9y ago
> * I know plenty of people who would say that Windows had its peak usability around Windows 2000/2003 and only got heavier and more confusing later on.* Given Microsoft's mostly successful effort to make Windows more friendly to the user, I find it hard to believe any of these people have extensive experience with Windows 7+
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  Oh, but they did. There was a series of problems with Vista that pissed people off, then there was the quite-ok Windows 7, and then Microsoft screwed everything up with Windows 8. The irony is, they've managed to fix a lot of Windows 8 UX problems in Windows 10, but then the telemetry stories and in-your-face pushing of the upgrade from 8 to 10 left some people I know stranded at 8 and afraid to try out 10. I guess this'll change in the next hardware upgrade cycle...
  - cm2187 9y ago
    They fixed some UX problems but left others. Two control panels, massive grey buttons that feel odd when used with a mouse, dysfunctional and random start menu, full screen modal notifications (windows server 2016), etc
    - michrassena 9y ago
      The two control panels thing is maddening. It's just embarrassing they've let this mess escape beta. It should be one or the other, not an unevenly applied mixture. The lack of cohesiveness makes the whole system look amateurish.

andreiw 9y ago

Not to invalidate all of your arguments, but it does “just install” in a VM without needing technical experience. To reach any mass of users (outside of turnkey solutions where the end users may not know or care), you need commercial support and the later needs concrete identified market segments. To parallel Wine - ROS needs its own CrossOver (but not Cedega).

chris_wot 9y ago
I agree - I literally downloaded the ISO, booted it up, it installed in VirtualBox. Of course, the network driver didn't work, sadly :(
- amaccuish 9y ago
  change to use pc net iii, there's a driver for that built in

stctgion 9y ago

I can see ruining old but required Windows binaries without paying for a Windows license as a totally valid use case.

sspiff 9y ago

I know a bunch of people (mostly gamers) who refuse to upgrade from Windows 7 to 8 or 10, mostly because of usability and privacy concerns. Eventually, they'll have to (DirectX 12, but I'm sure there's a ton of APIs for non-games as well and drivers will stop being updated for Win7). But if ReactOS can reach a level of maturity and compatibility to please such people, there's a sizeable niche there of people who: 1. won't switch away from Windows to Linux or BSD, 2. but would be willing to adopt a familiar and compatible operating system.

majewsky 9y ago
Please don't use code blocks for normal text. This is frustratingly difficult to read on a phone where the code block becomes a scrolling container.
- sspiff 9y ago
  Sorry, I didn't intend to make it a code block, just wanted to indent the list headers. Is there a list syntax for HN comments?
  - majewsky 9y ago
    Not really, but it works well enough if you put each item on a separate paragraph (i.e. with blank lines before and afterwards) and prefix it with a bullet point etc.: - Then it looks like this. - And still flows nicely.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
EamonnMR 9y ago
I definitely count myself as one of those gamers who hasn't moved off 7 yet for my gaming and music production. On a machine like that, windows is just a layer between the game and the hardware and the less other stuff, the better. 8 and 10 have little value add for someone who just wants program compatibility-7 was plenty stable.

flohofwoe 9y ago

To an average user, the latest Windows versions really don't add anything useful over WinXP or even Win2k. Many things got worse, like discovering and starting installed applications. Slap a modern UI theme on XP, and nobody will notice that it's a nearly 20 year old OS.

jonathanstrange 9y ago

I have high hopes for ReactOS, because pro audio software is currently the only thing that really keeps me tied to Windows. (I use GNU/Linux for work already for more than a decade.) Unfortunately, last time I looked audio software and drivers weren't well supported on ReactOS. If I could get Reaper, my audio interface and commercial VSTs running on it, I'd ditch Windows forever.

nashashmi 9y ago

I currently use win 7 in win 98 style. It is faster on the graphics and the processor.

NoGravitas 9y ago

I installed ReactOS in a VM, because I have one Windows app I need (Adobe Digital Editions for reading library ebooks), and I figured it would be easier than trying to get it running in Wine. But the current ADE requires Windows 7, so I was out of luck. Probably worth trying the new version.

arghwhat 9y ago

> It's a fringe OS that requires technical expertise to install. That's fixable (and not different from Windows). > Not only that but it looks like "old Windows" That is by far the easiest fix of all. People just care more about making things work right now. Plus, a lot of people actually preferred the older style. > Not only that but it'll have bugs Welcome to software. Windows is also full of bugs. > You'll see tiny pockets of people using it but as Microsoft gets closer and closer to simply having a free OS it doesn't seem likely anyone would ever use this OS for anything beyond "hey, that's cool!". I think it might end up being quite big quite soon: There's a bunch of proprietary software out there that is old, and not Windows 10 compatible. Things like car diagnostics software. If ReactOS gives them a way to get things working without Win10, I'm sure they'd eat it right up. ReactOS just isn't ready for that yet. It's still major version 0.

Kadin 9y ago

> Not only that but it looks like "old Windows". Not convinced that's a weakness as opposed to a strength. Every time Microsoft changes literally anything about their UI, they alienate a legion of people who suddenly feel their workflow and productivity has been irretrievably broken.

e12e 9y ago

> as Microsoft gets closer and closer to simply having a free OS it doesn't seem likely anyone would ever use this OS for anything beyond "hey, that's cool!". Free OS? Even bog standard windows 10 pro (non-oem) is hardly free. Never mind a datacenter server license (aka you need to run 10s of instances in vms in order to get anything line useful utilisation from this modern server).

michrassena 9y ago

I think you're entirely right, but I wonder if there's not some life left in it down the road. Whenever I've needed DOS, which isn't that often anymore, I reach for FreeDOS, not MS-DOS. Who knows what deeply legacy systems might be around in 30 years? But then again, it's hard to imagine something as ubiquitous as a Windows installation disk being unobtainable on the used market.