React OS

ReactOS is a free, modern operating system based on the design of Windows® XP/2003. Written completely from scratch, it aims to follow the Windows-NT architecture designed by Microsoft from the hardware level right through to the application level. This is not a Linux based system, and shares none of the unix architecture.




ReactOS (React Operating System) is an open source computer operating system intended to be binary compatible with application software and device drivers made for Microsoft Windows NT versions 5.x and up (Windows 2000 and its successors). A spin-off of a previous attempt to clone Windows 95, development started in early 1998, and has continued with the incremental addition of features already found in Windows.
ReactOS is primarily written in C, with some elements, such as ReactOS Explorer, written in C++. The project is ported to the ARM and AMD64 processor architectures, and partially implements Windows API functionality. The latter is assisted by including parts from the Wine compatibility layer for Unix-like operating systems, but other functionality is implemented by the developers themselves. However, progress has been hampered by a lack of developers with the relevant skill-sets.
An extensive code audit is in place to protect against legal problems, such that implementation of the Windows API is only done by means of a complete clean room reverse engineering process. This has been in place following claims made in 2006 by a former developer and a third party in separate incidents that the project has either contained disassembled assembly code from Windows, or files directly originating from Microsoft. Both allegations have had no adverse legal consequences to the project, and development continues to this day.
ReactOS has been noted for its information on undocumented Windows APIs and more generally as an open-source drop-in replacement for Windows. The project aim, as cited from itself, is to allow users of Windows to completely renounce use of proprietary commercial software without having to switch to an operating system that is not binary-compatible with Windows, such as Linux. However, a lack of corporate backers and dedicated developers have limited its efforts to realize this.

More Details:-React OS

Download