Conclusion
ReactOS is a brilliant idea at heart, and it has come a long way in the past couple of years. It is integral for there to be more than one choice for alternate operating systems, since Windows isn’t the best and Linux isn’t for everyone.
In a sense, ReactOS isn’t an alternate operating system, it’s Windows under another name and brand new source code to match, but at the end of the day, ReactOS is big proof that Linux and Windows aren’t the only choices for desktop PCs, and that there is always room for more innovation. All it takes is a bit of effort.
What’s ironic is that ReactOS is now taking the same path the technological community hoped Windows 2000 would. When Microsoft released Windows 2000, it truly was a break-through operating system, and brought desktop computing to a whole new level. At the end of it’s run and before the release of Windows XP, the technological community expected another version of Windows that would keep the speed and lightness of Windows 2000, but add touch-ups to the layout, provide better and more powerful system management tools, and provide a better overall experience.
At the moment, ReactOS is not to be considered an operating system in its own right. As explained, the development cycle of ReactOS doesn’t allow for it to be used properly until all development is more-or-less complete. As such, it’s hard for anyone to use it as a real alternative operating system just yet, making it even difficult to review it under the same circumstances and conditions as any other operating system would be reviewed; but where development is strong ReactOS is doing great.
Windows XP may not have been that operating system, but ReactOS is poised to steal that light if it can get it’s compatibility layer fixed and it’s development times cut down enough so that it isn’t released along with Duke Nukem Forever. We wish the ReactOS team the best of luck, look forward to new features and greater compatibility in releases to come.