Ever since upgrading to Windows 11 on my relatively modern desktop, I have been tempted to replace it with ReactOS. I do not expect the 100% stability or compatibility, but my question is, what should I expect from it as a "daily driver" in a home (i.e. non-critical) setting? I do not intend to use any software from Microsoft (which is known to sometimes rely on some undocumented features and assumptions).
Unless you're content with a severely outdated browser and notepad for your productivity, ReactOS is not even close to a daily driver.
In my opinion, for production use it's currently best suited for use as a free virtual machine for old software that no longer runs natively on Windows. If enough APIs are covered, it can be an excellent replacement for an XP VM to run some ancient tools.
Modern versions don't. There was an LTS version for XP that was updated up until relatively recently that still works, but I wouldn't recommend using that for a daily driver anymore.
In theory someone could take modern Firefox, figure out what essential APIs are missing, and contribute a set of fixes to get the latest LTS version of Firefox working again, but that's quite a complicated process.
Don't want to be that guy, but honestly, what you are describing is exactly what Linux has to offer. Its a modern OS with modern tools unlike ReactOS, and its only downside is that it is not compatible with all Windows software, which you seem to be okay with. I recommend you give Linux a try, specifically Linux Mint.[0]
But why go to linux when alternatives are available?
FreeBSD is a great option for a modern stable OS that can run pretty much everything linux can. Desktop system is also easy to install via DarkMate[0] on vanilla FreeBSD or then go to e.g. GhostBSD[1] that has all the bells and whistles from GUI installation onwards.
>FreeBSD is a great option for a modern stable OS that can run pretty much everything linux can
If you compile your own user space software or it's already ported, then yes. But it doesn't have the same driver or virtualization support Linux has. I haven't tried any of the BSDs on a laptop for about 4 years but power management was abysmal then.
Most of these projects - ReactOS, Haiku and even Hurd badly needs a 1.0 release. That would get them enough developer attention to achieve their more ambitious goals faster. They should aim for simple bare-metal booting reliably on 1.0. Get this done at least on hardware with open specifications. With this in mind, take them into beta with the intention of stabilizing bootup.
Developer mindset is a finicky thing. Haiku has been around for 20 years, actually boots on large amount of hardware, now even has ports for Qt, GTK, X11, Wine and loads of other applications people are already familiar with. This year I handed over old Acer Aspire to a friend in need, slapped Haiku on it and he has a working computer. By all fairness, Haiku is already actually 'useable'.
But majority of indie OS mindset was suddenly captured over past couple of years by SerenityOS. It is a good project in itself, but goes to show 1.0 does not matter for capturing Dev mindshare.
SerentityOS really shows the power of community engagement. The project is extremely open and welcoming. The project releases often. There are official demos videos of progress both from the project leader and a community showcase of other contributors. There are developer interviews, office hours, and an active discord server. The founders now famous opening catch phrase is “hello friends” and other contributors now mirror that in their videos. The founder says that he is building the system primarily for himself but he very clearly sees the value in the community and comes as as extremely grateful for the attention and engagement. There are major contributors that basically learned C++ to contribute to the project and the founder trumpets that like a proud father.
ReactOS on the other hand is very opaque and unfriendly. The website goes without updates for months. There is a sparsely populated forum that is filled with hostility and frustration from the inner circle. The current release ( made not that long ago ) is based off a branch that the main development moved off of years ago. There is a wiki that shows what is appearing in the next release but it has not been updated since June 28. Most of the project discussion happens at chat.reactos.org but I am not sure how you are to know that even exists. To me, it feels like the project attitude towards the community is that they are useless freeloaders. People better than you are busy doing important work that you would not understand. Don’t bother them.
Another aspect of the end-user focus is that SerenityOS has an emphasis on producing working software that is useful. Despite its alpha state they are redesigning dialogue boxes and controls to be easier to use. Animations and subtle GUI effects are celebrated as are small usability features in applications. Despite it being a project goal to build everything from scratch, there is a large ports collection and some of the most notable live streams show the founder porting popular programs and games. While ReactOS cannot even bother to get a browser working, SerenityOS is creating one from scratch.
I have a huge respect for the ReactOS achievement but it is no great mystery why a project like SerenityOS has had more momentum. In my view, the way the ReactOS project is managed has absolutely held it back. I could say the same for projects like GNUstep unfortunately.
Projects like Haiku have not bottled quite the same magic as Serenity but Haiku is very community friendly and it shows. Haiku is also pragmatic and, while the goal is to mimic BeOS and to offer an alternative app platform they have built compatibility layers in order to port over apps. They even run WINE. Haiku also has a browser ( not totally from scratch ) and there is already a port to RISC-V. Despite not being at 1.0 yet, there has been a lot of emphasis on creating a working end-user experience.
A lot of these projects require the rare resources of people willing to do the work for free.
HaikuOS is a hobby project, it doesn’t have the industry relevance to be serious enough for a solid release.
Gnu Hurd’s only benefit is having a micro kernel. Minix, QNX, and possibly other actively developers OS’s have that market. It hasn’t been updated in 6 years and will fade. There’s already Linux anyway.
