ReactOS 0.4.10 released
reactos.org
reactos.org
The OS itself installs and is extremely fast to install and use, but it doesn't seem to recognize the Ethernet or Sound in Parallels Desktop this time around. I've tried changing the VM from "Other Windows" to "Windows XP" and installing Parallels Tools, but the installer hangs the VM at the 74% point.
EDIT 2: Apologies for my repeated edits & postings. To get networking in Parallels Desktop, you need to use the advanced settings to choose the Realtek driver emulation and then it is automatically detected, as outlined in this post: https://www.reactos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17056&p=13...
> Does anyone here use <s>ReactOS</s> WINE as a productive system?
Yes: a lot. More recently Valve started to ship Windows games on Linux and macOS based on it.
> Does anyone here use <s>ReactOS</s> Windows_hardware_drivers as a productive system?
Historically, NDISWrapper was a thing. These days alternative OS have support for wireless chips on day 0 because Android exists. Not to the extent of being free software on day zero, but being designed for Linux and then "ported" to Windows.
Beside that a dedicated Windows VM work better if the device is USB/RS232/Ethernet.
> Does anyone here use <s>ReactOS</s>Windows_software_not_on_native_windows as a productive system?
Either in the Cloud or with Virtual machine, sure. With applications moving to the Web, desktop applications is less and less a thing. The legacy will live on, but there is better alternatives to ReactOS to keep them running.
> Does anyone here use ReactOS as a productive system?
I don't think so. When it try it, stability isn't there. Plus if your hardware drivers are proprietary, good luck installing it on real modern hardware.
> Is ReactOS useful
I think it will eventually find its niche in the same way FreeDOS is/was hugely successful "commercially". Some hardware systems rarely change over the decades. Many still ship with floppy parallel cable as the main data storage bus. I have been a consultant for a while and can confirm OS/2, eComStatation, COBOL and obscure/ancient real-time OS are common in the industrial world. Eventually ReactOS will be good enough for those and it will make business sense to use it.
* It support Windows drivers
* Run barely modified win32 applications
* Don't take that much more resource than the original
* There is people to pay when you need a bug fixed
Just as FreeDOS is here is stay on DOS era industrial hardware, WinNT 4-5.1 era industrial hardware is also here to stay.
On the other hand, it's getting a bit late and it may miss it's window (pun intended) of opportunity and all hardware that could use it will die first and all the spare parts the manufacturer has will also run out. In that case the hardware will move to QNX/VxWorks/Embedded_Linux/FreeDOS.
This is useful to me, thanks.
It reuses a lot of WINE's core, and so on. The intent is a FOSS OS which can run Windows drivers and applications.