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Comment by codeflo | Hacker News Reader

If ReactOS were "ready" right now (i.e., could run 99% of all Windows 7 software unmodified), with all the bad press that Windows 8 gets, it might even have a chance to steal some market share. However, I don't think they can catch up before Microsoft manages to release another "good" version of Windows, and then the game of catch-up will start again.

I hope I'm wrong. I'd really like to see this succeed.

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If ReactOS every became a thing (i.e. more than a hobby exercise) Microsoft would sue them off the planet. I am sure Microsoft has countless patents covering Windows technology.

They got a 50 btc donation in december. ;)

Yep. Microsoft allows WINE and ReactOS to proceed unchallenged because they're aware of the Streisand Effect. If it ever became a legitimate threat to Windows' dominance, they'd be lawyered out of existence lickety-split.

ReactOS has spent a LOT of time and effort remaining in the clear legally. It would be a hell of a lawsuit but after the dust settled, it would be in favour of ReactOS barring a freakish reversal of precedent. They have taken the same approach as Pheonix Technologies used back when they cloned the IBM BIOS and sparked the dawn of the Wintel/IBM Compatible era http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Technologies#Cloning_th...

I'm a WINE contributor so I'm aware of their meticulous legal requirements. It doesn't mean that MS won't go nuclear in the courts. ReactOS or CodeWeavers are small enough that they could easily be killed with litigation alone, regardless of outcome. After years fighting one premise, MS will be ready to go again on another premise, until the little companies that create these products throw in the towel.

Isn't that a real danger in itself though? I mean, "a hell of a lawsuit" can bring plenty of people down in economic despair - regardless of how it would end, litigation could continue for years.

If you believe in technological plateaus ... it's possible that ReactOS has all the time in the world.

I'm surprised the Chinese government is not sponsoring it.

weren't they targeting winxp? I think windows 7 would require a lot more work.

http://www.reactos.org/about-reactos

"Free and Open Source replacement for the Microsoft Windows NT® family [...] with its latest iteration being Windows 8"

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