It would be great if we could combine ReactOS with Good old Games to build a retro Windows games distribution. I could hand that out at LAN parties as USB boot stick.
The article talks about construction on the exterior, the cross on the main tower, the Pope's visit and commemoration of the architect, etc. while on the official website the timeline says "Today, more than 140 years after the laying of the cornerstone, construction continues on the Basilica": https://sagradafamilia.org/en/history-of-the-temple
So which one is it? Is this one of those cases where we have to define "done" first?
Only if it keeps being relevant for the computing model.
Case in point, ReactOS is far behind what Windows 11 is capable of, and this not taking into account the ARM and CoPilot+ PC hardware changes in modern motherboards.
It is nonetheless relevant, especially in the presence of escape mechanisms to oppressive governments, and digital sovereignty.
The better the specs of a commercial product, the easier it would be to produce an open source version it, with coding and testing automation perhaps even a one-to-one offering.
You can run proprietary drivers with ReactOS since it replicates the driver layer too.
So unlike Linux systems with Nvidia Kepler cards, you can still run the most up-to-date desktop environment. Or if you have an obscure WiFi card, you can use the Windows drivers.
WannaCry was able to successfully run on ReactOS in 2025. Most other virsuses do tend to crash, because the memory layout is just a tiny bit different, but yeah, compatibility means compatibility. Lots of malware comes along for the ride.
However, there is a permissions layer that is more nix than Windows, which means the first foothold is still better than XP - you have to choose to execute the file. Self-running things don't tend to infect systems.
Its not a panacea, and there is a risk factor. And there aren't a lot of antivirus systems that can run correctly under ReactOS, because they freak out and think the OS is the malware, because they're scanning hashes for Windows, not another system.
But for a hobby OS, keeping hardware and software accessible after the rest of the world broke access, it still works.
Of course. Maybe not successfully but a "virus" is just software. If it runs software, it runs software, full stop. Maybe the same APIs are not available or behave differently, so it may be buggy or non-functional, but that's true of Half-Life here too.
Somewhere in the docs they state that they must also recreate whatever bugs the API has, otherwise applications written with those bugs as an (implicit) assumption could misbehave.
its worse than that, Windows activates/deactivates "bugs" based on the compatibility profile of the app.
so you can set an app to use a Windows XP compatibility profile, and this will simulate Windows bugs which were fixed in more recent versions of the OS
Maybe worry about Linux malware which is a major problem right now everyone is in huge denial about, instead of throwing shade at a hobby OS emulating a 25 year old version of Windows.
ReactOS isn't the one that just had one of its package repos owned (again).
Isn't it funny how such incidents on Linux are rare enough that they make headlines, but on Windows that's been the baseline expected state of things for so long that nobody bats an eye anymore.
Btw if you're running an OS that's never had a malware incident, please, tell us!
While this is sort of laughable out of context (I mean, Steam on Linux for the last few years has run basically everything with full acceleration)...
I think what is being claimed, but not explicitly in the article, is that this is running the NVIDIA driver stack (for an ancient GeForce 8 card) directly, as opposed to emulating DirectX at the API level on top of a Vulkan driver.
> While this is sort of laughable out of context (I mean, Steam on Linux for the last few years has run basically everything with full acceleration)...
Eh. It's sort of like saying FreeDOS is laughable because DOSBox exists. I think that's missing the point.
reactos has been in development for 28 years and it can run half-life on real hardware. that is approximately how long half-life 1 itself has existed in the first place!
It would be great if we could combine ReactOS with Good old Games to build a retro Windows games distribution. I could hand that out at LAN parties as USB boot stick.
Given enough time, open-source will win. Just think about how more and more people are programming and how that will draw them to open-source.
> development for 28 years now
> given enough time
This has been a lifetime for a slice of the human population.
It’s getting into Sagrada Familia territory.
This is an absolute tangent (a perpendicular one if you will), but I thought the Sagrada Familia is completed: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2026/06/10/bar...
The article talks about construction on the exterior, the cross on the main tower, the Pope's visit and commemoration of the architect, etc. while on the official website the timeline says "Today, more than 140 years after the laying of the cornerstone, construction continues on the Basilica": https://sagradafamilia.org/en/history-of-the-temple
So which one is it? Is this one of those cases where we have to define "done" first?
See, at this rate it won’t even take a century!
Only if it keeps being relevant for the computing model.
Case in point, ReactOS is far behind what Windows 11 is capable of, and this not taking into account the ARM and CoPilot+ PC hardware changes in modern motherboards.
It is nonetheless relevant, especially in the presence of escape mechanisms to oppressive governments, and digital sovereignty.
more people and AI
Specifications are important.
The better the specs of a commercial product, the easier it would be to produce an open source version it, with coding and testing automation perhaps even a one-to-one offering.
What is the benefit compared to a compatibility layer? Is it easier for future maintenance?
It's definitely a huge improvement towards "FOSS Windows."
You can run proprietary drivers with ReactOS since it replicates the driver layer too.
So unlike Linux systems with Nvidia Kepler cards, you can still run the most up-to-date desktop environment. Or if you have an obscure WiFi card, you can use the Windows drivers.
This, I'd love to be able to use Genelec GLM from Linux but it needs some custom serial drivers... too bad it only supports Win 10 right now.
something I wondered for a while
do windows viruses get ported by such efforts as well?
WannaCry was able to successfully run on ReactOS in 2025. Most other virsuses do tend to crash, because the memory layout is just a tiny bit different, but yeah, compatibility means compatibility. Lots of malware comes along for the ride.
However, there is a permissions layer that is more nix than Windows, which means the first foothold is still better than XP - you have to choose to execute the file. Self-running things don't tend to infect systems.
Its not a panacea, and there is a risk factor. And there aren't a lot of antivirus systems that can run correctly under ReactOS, because they freak out and think the OS is the malware, because they're scanning hashes for Windows, not another system.
But for a hobby OS, keeping hardware and software accessible after the rest of the world broke access, it still works.
Of course. Maybe not successfully but a "virus" is just software. If it runs software, it runs software, full stop. Maybe the same APIs are not available or behave differently, so it may be buggy or non-functional, but that's true of Half-Life here too.
Some, but not all, most don't. Ideally they would all work, ReactOS doesn't make a priority on being a "safer" option, just an open source option
You can run WannaCry under Wine, with a bit of effort.
Somewhere in the docs they state that they must also recreate whatever bugs the API has, otherwise applications written with those bugs as an (implicit) assumption could misbehave.
its worse than that, Windows activates/deactivates "bugs" based on the compatibility profile of the app.
so you can set an app to use a Windows XP compatibility profile, and this will simulate Windows bugs which were fixed in more recent versions of the OS
The payload yes, the exploit hopefully not.
Yes
Maybe worry about Linux malware which is a major problem right now everyone is in huge denial about, instead of throwing shade at a hobby OS emulating a 25 year old version of Windows.
ReactOS isn't the one that just had one of its package repos owned (again).
What's the major Linux malware problem that everyone is ignoring
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Isn't it funny how such incidents on Linux are rare enough that they make headlines, but on Windows that's been the baseline expected state of things for so long that nobody bats an eye anymore.
Btw if you're running an OS that's never had a malware incident, please, tell us!
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While this is sort of laughable out of context (I mean, Steam on Linux for the last few years has run basically everything with full acceleration)...
I think what is being claimed, but not explicitly in the article, is that this is running the NVIDIA driver stack (for an ancient GeForce 8 card) directly, as opposed to emulating DirectX at the API level on top of a Vulkan driver.
Indeed. ReactOS is to the full Windows stack what Wine is to the userland Windows API.
> While this is sort of laughable out of context (I mean, Steam on Linux for the last few years has run basically everything with full acceleration)...
Eh. It's sort of like saying FreeDOS is laughable because DOSBox exists. I think that's missing the point.
I mean they reimplemented directx without vulkan, that's indeed in a league of their own. wine/proton relies on opengl/vulkan to do anything.
Wine has had many different DirectX backends over the decades, including one before Vulkan existed obviously.
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I wouldn't call it laughable. ReactOS was not created only to run half-life. It's just one of their many impressive achievements.
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reactos has been in development for 28 years and it can run half-life on real hardware. that is approximately how long half-life 1 itself has existed in the first place!