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I was thinking in particular about the Wine on Windows use case. Running ReactOS in a VM seems a more direct route than running Wine in a Linux VM (e.g. via WSL

I was thinking in particular about the Wine on Windows use case. Running ReactOS in a VM seems a more direct route than running Wine in a Linux VM (e.g. via WSL 2). Edit: I also think it would have made a lot of sense for Valve to invest in getting ReactOS running on their Steam Deck hardware, so they could use that instead of Linux. They're clearly a Windows-first shop, and ReactOS is modeled on NT right down to the kernel. Having a Unix-like OS running underneath, when one really just wants to run Windows code, adds an extra translation layer and impedance mismatches that might even be user-visible.

usrusr 5y ago
About the ReactOS on Steam Deck bit: I'd suspect that this might be a bit too much for what looks like a fragile peace between Microsoft and Valve. Doing Deck on Linux is one thing (in the days of Linux on Azure it can't be much of a provocation), but ReactOS could still be too much I think. "If you want Windows, ask us for a good offer!" Technically Proton on Linux might be very similar (even the same code in key parts?), but on a subjective level, I could easily see one trigger a red line reaction the other would not.
seba_dos1 5y ago
You don't need a VM or WSL to run Wine, you can run it on Windows. Sometimes even WineD3D alone is enough to fix issues with old games. Also, Valve's interest in GNU/Linux is broader than just Deck.
Koshkin 5y ago
Actually, WINE works in WSL 1, too.
LeFantome 5y ago
WINE is Windows APIs running on the Linux kernel ( host OS kernel ). The Linux kernel is already high quality and high performance. ReactOS is Windows APIs running on the from-scratch ReactOS kernel that is not very good. The ReactOS project is not the source for most of the APIs a game is going to use. Many of the come from WINE. Using ReactOS instead of WINE on Linux makes little sense at this point. It would certainly be a lot more expense and time to create a commercial quality product. Most of the work creating API support to WINE / Proton is portable to ReactOS of the kernel ever gets there.
chungy 5y ago
It might make sense if ReactOS's software compatibility was higher, but alas, it's a lot better on the Linux+Wine side of things than direct ReactOS.

usrusr 5y ago

About the ReactOS on Steam Deck bit: I'd suspect that this might be a bit too much for what looks like a fragile peace between Microsoft and Valve. Doing Deck on Linux is one thing (in the days of Linux on Azure it can't be much of a provocation), but ReactOS could still be too much I think. "If you want Windows, ask us for a good offer!" Technically Proton on Linux might be very similar (even the same code in key parts?), but on a subjective level, I could easily see one trigger a red line reaction the other would not.

seba_dos1 5y ago

You don't need a VM or WSL to run Wine, you can run it on Windows. Sometimes even WineD3D alone is enough to fix issues with old games. Also, Valve's interest in GNU/Linux is broader than just Deck.

Koshkin 5y ago

Actually, WINE works in WSL 1, too.

LeFantome 5y ago

WINE is Windows APIs running on the Linux kernel ( host OS kernel ). The Linux kernel is already high quality and high performance. ReactOS is Windows APIs running on the from-scratch ReactOS kernel that is not very good. The ReactOS project is not the source for most of the APIs a game is going to use. Many of the come from WINE. Using ReactOS instead of WINE on Linux makes little sense at this point. It would certainly be a lot more expense and time to create a commercial quality product. Most of the work creating API support to WINE / Proton is portable to ReactOS of the kernel ever gets there.

chungy 5y ago

It might make sense if ReactOS's software compatibility was higher, but alas, it's a lot better on the Linux+Wine side of things than direct ReactOS.