caught in shifting targets and that halt for code review, and much delayed https://reactos.org/wiki/0.5.0 (2018??), a noble and worthy project, but at the moment, Linux/Wine or Linux Steam Proton are probably more capable of running applications reliably

Matth79 wrote on 2026-02-01, 15:56:

caught in shifting targets and that halt for code review, and much delayed https://reactos.org/wiki/0.5.0 (2018??), a noble and worthy project, but at the moment, Linux/Wine or Linux Steam Proton are probably more capable of running applications reliably

Not much of a happy birthday wishing. Ever heard of this one, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_effect

Still pretty useless when compared to just using Wine in Linux.

Apples and oranges. 🙂
ReactOS is meant to be binary compatible to Windows. It can use NT drivers, too.

Not *entirely*.

ROS shares lots of code with WINE, and vice versa.

Theoretically, ROS will be just as capable as WINE as the ROS kernel space matures.

I always found the idea of this interesting. I remember reading about it 15 years ago and hoping they would keep at it. It really is commendable that they're still going after 30 years.

I have to ask though... if they were to somehow get it to the point of having near perfect compatibility with Windows x86 and x64 programs, wouldn't it end up susceptible to a lot of Windows malware and exploits without any of Microsoft's resources to help get security flaws patched?

I know it wouldn't be quite that simple since it is fundamentally not the same code... but I can't help but think that this would be a less than ideal situation.

Quick update. There's a HaD article about it.
https://hackaday.com/2026/02/05/three-decades-of-reactos/

The currently one and only comment says: Over just the past week, ReactOS has been making some insane improvements to the graphics drivers, the Nvidia drivers up to the GTX 9xx series are now working, with 2D and 3D acceleration.

Holy shit, is that true?

UCyborg wrote on 2026-02-05, 20:38:

The currently one and only comment says: Over just the past week, ReactOS has been making some insane improvements to the graphics drivers, the Nvidia drivers up to the GTX 9xx series are now working, with 2D and 3D acceleration.

Wow... you know, if I ever get around to completing an overpowered Windows XP build, it would be neat to put ReactOS on a second drive to play around with.

only 100 years to leave alpha stage!

I always said we'll be dead before ReactOS becomes feasible as a daily driver.

zapbuzz wrote on 2026-02-06, 07:09:

only 100 years to leave alpha stage!

Nah, let's be more optimistic. By 2050 it will reach beta stage, for sure! 😃

Considering how small their team is, I'm not keen to throw that kind of shade.

Is the dev speed glacial? Yes.

But look at the size of the goal they've set. They've done quite a lot for a small project.

It looks like we had the true reactos all along.

Now to backport modern web browsers and drivers 🤣

(Looks both ways)

You know FreeLdr can boot NT4, and 2k, right?

😁

Jo22 wrote on 2026-02-01, 15:43:

Happy Birthday, ReactOS! 🥳

No, it's still unborn - alpha/beta stage is like pregnancy.
And with 30-year long pregnancy, it puts to shame even the elephant 🤣

Grzyb wrote on 2026-02-11, 22:50:

Jo22 wrote on 2026-02-01, 15:43:

Happy Birthday, ReactOS! 🥳

No, it's still unborn - alpha/beta stage is like pregnancy.
And with 30-year long pregnancy, it puts to shame even the elephant 🤣

Hey, it may not "out" yet but we can already see the feet! ;D

Deleted post on where to acquire windows source code that people like to post in threads about open source code for some reason.

There really isn't much point to ReactOS if it's not going to do these two things:

-Become more compatible than Linux+Wine
-Become more stable than XP

Otherwise it's a novelty, a toy that can't really be used for anything. A very cool one, no doubt, but still.