So everyone talks about WindX now, but I'm more excited about

ReactOS 0.4.0.

With MS-WindX being planned for release a month or two after ReactOS 0.4.0, people that need to update, might just go for the open source alternative instead.

For those that don'tr know ReactOS, it's a community made open source Windows clone, that now runs Adobe CS, MS-Office 2007 (and to be honest, with most businesses still using Office 2003 if they still use Office, that's more than enough), and even DirectX games like Halo. They're at version 0.4.0 development now, and are looking for testers, just like MS-WindX is.

So instead of installing the development preview of MS-WindX, why don't y'all install ReactOS 0.4.0. It's free, it's open source, and it will release sooner than WindX... what do you have to lose?

In terms of ease of use and dekstop features like multi-monitor support, multiple desktop support, window management (snapping, multitouch controls, etc...), customizability, speed, etc... linux is much more advanced and better than MS-WindX, which is but a clone of old linux DE versions, and those have evolved beyond what Microsoft has been able to copy. So use a linux system as you main OS, and whatever games and software you have that doesn't run in linux, run it in ReactOS, because that's open source, and it's free, and it has typical open source quality control, which means that by release mid 2015, it will have a hell of a lot less bugs than any closed source software package on the face of the earth.

ReactOS 0.5.0 is already being worked on, the project is entirely funded, it's a totally viable thing, and it doesn't have any of the annoying "features" that Microsoft has been pushing down all it's customers throats since MS-W8...

 

So I'm more excited about the release of ReactOS 0.4.0 in summer 2015 than about the release of MS-WindX in fall 2015... even if MS makes WindX free in basic version...

I think i'll give it a try, i know about it for a while and hope it will become widely supported alternative for microsoft products.

Well Linux started off as an open source alternative to Unix.

This could very well work out the same way.

I remember looking at reactOS 10 years ago and thinking if this takes off it could be the go-to OS for the majority of users.

I'm surprised it's still going TBH.

Nice info

Downloaded and installing in VM right now...

This would be amazing. Never heard about it before. Thanks, Zoltan.

I'd Rather use Zorin OS. the GUI on ReactOS is starting to give me flashbacks of The Nightmares I've had with Windows Millennium. Plus ZorinOS is also Good Alternative to Windows as well.

Hmmm... Wish I could get it to work. 

 Installed v0.3.16 but when I try to go through the setup process it just hangs when this window pops up:

"Wine Gecko Installer - ReastOS could not find a Wine Gecko Package which is needed for applications embadding HTML to work correctly. ReactOS can automatically download and install it for you."

I click "Install" and says "downloading", but it just hangs. 

Any ideas, Zoltan? Anyone?

 

*edit* I have it installed in Virtualbox, host is Win 8.1.

What is Zorin based off of,currently i'm leaning towards Mint Debian ( i like Debian based systems)

it's based off Ubuntu and Debian. Basically it's a Distro that Gives the User All the Features without Alot of Complications. which is nice. Also it's Lightweight i Believe it only uses like 500mb of Ram which is a Bonus.

I have high hopes for this but I do see the ReactOS project as having some very major hurdles to overcome if it's ever going to be any sort of competitor (threat) to MS Windows.

First and foremost will be Microsoft! I mean, this company likes to sue people for anything if they even think it will cost them a sale. So if you have even a partly compatible Windows OS (just consider the very phrase "Windows compatible" for a moment) I doubt Microsoft will let ReactOS live for very long -- open source or not. Consider how Microsoft and Apple went head to head over point and click GUI's back around the mid 90's (after they both allegedly stole the idea from Xerox). Heck! Look at the Linux versions that have claimed to be Microsoft Windows-"like" that aren't even available any more too. So I hope ReactOS has a good legal team, they're going to need it.

The next problem I see with ReactOS is how it's currently distributed (made available). Right now, the only way a person seems to be able to "test" it would be to download the source code and compile it themselves. All sorts of problems can happen just in the compiling process (the platform/OS and compiler you use do seem to make a difference). Add in any sort of kernel support for certain pieces of hardware a person might need and it all spirals out of control pretty quickly. I'm sure it will change, but right now anyone wanting to give ReactOS a spin needs to have a very good understanding of C/C++ just to get it up and running. (No you don't necessarily need to be able to write code in C/C++ but you better understand most everything else!)

As such, I will wait for a beta version -- and an .iso -- before I give it a try. By then, Microsoft may have woke up and begun any legal proceedings where we'll know if this "project" has any hope of surviving or not. Though my current outlook (oops!) is a highly negative one for ReactOS when you throw in marketing phrases like "Windows Compatible" and how it will let people run their Windows software. (Hello? "Licensing" department?!)

Sorry if I rained on anyone's picnic here. But I think I'll stick to Linux Mint a little while longer.

 

I don't see them being able to sue (and win)them since the core team is in Russia. 

Zorin is anything but lightweight and anything but modern, it has an unsatisfactory updating policy, and isn't near as user friendly as DE's in linux that don't try to look like a software console.

Zorin uses as least twice as much system resources than full featured DE's like Gnome Shell and KDE5.

Zorin is just not representative of the real linux experience at all.

But it's a choice, it's there because there are people that like it. Open source is all about choice.

This thread is also all about ReactOS, not about Zorin. ReactOS actually behaves like Windows, the main goal being to offer an open source operating system that doesn't just look like Windows XP, like Zorin or Elementary try to achieve, but that actually runs applications that are made for Windows, and not applications that are made for linux.

ReactOS is an alternative for all those people that want to run their windows-only applications like Adobe CS and DX9 games, and that find that those games do not run on linux, and that don't have a hardware console to run these console apps on.

The problem with WindX is that it is nothing... what I mean is, whereas W8 is hardly usable because it's a click- and search-pandemonium, it's actually in terms of performance not so bad, and it definitely is more usable than the - still not scalable - desktop interface of Windows, for people that use touchscreen devices.

Thing is, there were hardly any x86 touchscreen devices around during W8, but nowadays Lenovo is bringing out Full HD touchscreen convertibles with Windows and quad core CPU for less than 400 USD. And the thing is, W8 will actually do pretty well on those, because they come preinstalled with W8, and many people are not inclined to install linux on them because they don't care and take what it comes with, even though linux offers a much better touch experience and full scalability.

And that's the problem, WindX is a step back in terms of touch screen interface, it's hardly even usable on a touch screen, because it still doesn't have full display scalability like linux DE's do, and with higher display resolution, the buttons on the screen become ever smaller, and harder to press, which adds to the hard-to-find-stuff character of W8 and WindX even more.

Microsoft should have stayed with Metro. Now they're really screwed...

Another problem with that is that Microsoft just doesn't have any really modern easy-to-use software. In enterprises, people still prefer Office 2003 over all of the nasty inefficient crap that came after that, people prefer the WinXP/7 interface over any of the nasty crap that came after that, etc... whereas linux is running so far ahead of everything else in terms of efficiency, full service integration, and user friendliness, especially with Android, that it will be impossible for everything else to ever catch up again in the next decade.

Windows has already lost, even if Microsoft desperately tries to take the children hostage inside and outside of schools by monopolising education programs and by buying Minecraft... they just don't have a product for the future any more, and there isn't something they can buy like they bought MS-DOS or OS/2 aka Windows NT in the past, because everything that's new and worth something, is open source and thus not for sale.

 

Linux has already won, not with crap like Ubuntu or Steam software consoles based on linux, but with Android, which has at least as much users using open source community variants than it has users using locked down console versions. Android offers a hell of a lot of ease of use, immediate result, compatibility and connectivity, for very little money. It's very intuitive and modern to use, and there is a solution for everyone.

Android is the new Windows, for those that want to move ahead.

ReactOS might well be the old Windows, for those that want the stay put.

 

So exit Windows, enter ReactOS, which does everything it can to emulate Windows XP, which is what the reactionary Windows users really want.

You're running it in Windows, that's why it doesn't work.

Also, use the development version, which is version 0.4.0, there is a lot of difference...

Yup, Microsoft is screwed any way or the other. Let them come, they can't provide proof without making the source code public anyway, and Microsoft will never do that...

I'm actually considering Grabbing one of those Lenovo Convertibles but i'm having trouble finding a Lightweight Desktop/Tablet Friendly Distro for it.

I Like ZorinOS cause when i used It felt as if i never really left windows i knew how to grab onto it very quickly. but I'm not sure if it supports touchscreen and has stylus support which is what i'm looking for right now. I'm not really a fan of ReactOS. it's great but i hate the GUI a bit too much i don't want to feel like i'm using 95 or Millennium.

Any Recommendations for a tablet/desktop friendly distro?

I just spent more than 40 minutes today getting the external keyboard (the one in the docking half, which also has the USB 2.0 ports, the second battery and the second storage drive) to even work on my new convertible.

I'm going to try various distros, see which one doesn't switch off the UEFI USB HID support, but what I can tell you is that both Fedora and OpenSuSE don't like the external keyboards (which is normal, because it's a security risk), so you only have support for it in real mode, but when the kernel loads, it's switched off. You can enable it again, but that has to be done manually.

I would not recommend this unless you know what you're doing to be honest, you might compromise the security of the system.

I went for one of the new quad core celeron convertibles, which only use 4.3 W of max power, and have no more open air or forced air cooling solution (even playing CS:GO on it - which works great with the Intel HD adapter and the quad core chip by the way - the spot in the tablet part where the CPU is, only gets lukewarm, and there is no throttling at all).

These devices are game changers, because the really offer a complete solution. The only weak point at this stage, is that they have to be configured manually for enterprise grade safe full-featured operation.

I had no problems whatsoever with Wi-Fi (even AC) or Bluetooth 4.0 in RPM distros, even the gravitational sensors and stuff has worked just fine out of the box. I haven't tried other distros yet, but I expect that Gentoo and Arch will pose no problem either, but I'm going to try Debian first as I expect the most problems there, especially with Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/Sensors, and with the performance of the Bay Trail M platform, which requires recent kernels for full feature support.

Gnome Shell 3.14, which is what I have on my tablet now, is working great with touch, the swiping in works great, the screen is much more responsive and precise than with windows 8.1, and the new multitouch features also work great and take no time at all to learn, it's very intuitive, with the exception maybe of the four finger swipe that switches desktops.

I already know that this machine is my new main computer for work, and it has VT-x support, which is great for flexibility with kvm and lxc/docker/sandstorm (sandstorm/docker/lxc/etc... don't technically require VT-x support, but require libvirtd, and libvirtd requires it, so they indirectly require it anyway).

I did spend some time with the Win8.1 preinstallation and fully configured it with all the latest Microsoft software tot try it out, but after a few hours with it, I was close to an aneurism because it's so damn' chaotic and inefficient, and everything is all over the place and there's double usage of things, it's just chaos. By the way, for those that don't need specific functions, the newest Google Docs/Sheets is much better than Office 365, which is pretty sad, borderline unusable to be honest. It's also slow as fuck in comparison to linux, and to Google products. Syncing for instance on Microsoft software thingies, takes forever, like so long that it did seem abnormal to me (I'm used to very fast syncing in linux, even with Google thingies), and that I started to solve problems, but there weren't any, it's just slow as fuck.

With the even better integration of all kinds of cloud services into Gnome Shell, it's definitely the best and most efficient x86 solution I've ever used in my life. It not only works great with other linux products like android devices, which I use a lot, but the touchscreen and the stylus are a great addition, and with the great integration of touch screen and wacom features into linux and Gnome Shell, it's really a very refreshing experience. So I'm definitely a believer in convertibles now, but only with those new ultra low power Intel chips. An i5 or i7 in a device like that just doesn't make any sense, because forced open air cooling is too basic to really perform like it should in device like that, and the CPU will throttle, like on the Surface 3 for instance, which is really annoying, and since these devices are not easily serviceable, it's important not to have any vent holes whatsoever in them. These quad core celerons solve all of those problems. They are fast enough to game basic games on (CS:GO runs great, very fluidly, even Dishonored, which uses the unreal engine and has quite a texture payload, runs fluidly, even though only barely at 30 fps unless you lower the resolution). On a Surface 3, you have more power from the CPU, but you can't even play CS:GO fluidly, because that CPU throttles all the time. With those Bay Trail M celerons, you're asking everything these poor little chips have (which is a passmark score of 10-20% more than the last generation of Core2Duo chips, so definitely not bad at all), but they just won't run hot, and they will give you a very constant and fluid experience, whilst at the same time ensuring a 12+ hour battery autonomy.

The fullHD screen is not as good as the one on the surface 3 or the samsung tablets, but it's definitely better than on MacBooks, and the touch experience is really good. It's an IPS display with automatic lighting with sensors and all the usual modern trimmings. All of this stuff has cost me less than 400 USD brand new, including the MS-W8.1 and 2-yr MS-Office 365 licenses, which make up more than 100 USD in the total price. I'm definitely sold on this device, and to think a Surface 3 costs over a 1000 bucks, and a Macbook Air (which isn't even usable as tablet) costs over 800 bucks... yeah, Lenovo knows what's happening, and the traditional US IT corporations don't have the slightest clue about what's happening.

To be complete, I do have to say that I did flash my device with open source coreboot BIOS payload, and have reprogrammed the software keys and payload entirely. This was pretty easy to do (easier than on the Acer C720P), but requires experience and some understanding of how UEFI, BIOS and real time execution payloads work.

How hard would it be to get the microsoft binarys used for ReactOS to work on another distro like Arch?

If this moves along, and can be used on other distros, it would be perfect. A near instant fix for Windows converts.

That is a good question. I am not sure what its compatibility with the GNU user-space. if they got it working with GNU it could be similar to BSD with some  Distro.