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Here’s an operating system of a different flavor I am intending to try out soon. ReactOS 0.3.1 was released today. Its goal as an operating system is to be a free and open source OS that is compatible with applications and drivers written for Microsoft Windows and it is based on the Windows architecture. The reason for its existence is quoted here from this ReactOS web page:

The raison-d’etre of ReactOS is the simple fact that some people, or especially companies, will -never- switch to Linux. No matter how much Linux gets better, or is better, it is not an option for them. Some people out there still use the 2.2 Linux Kernel and refuse to upgrade to a new version of the same OS; it is understandable that others will be totally unwilling to switch to a whole new OS. Until now, open source had no way to reach out to those people. Sure, other free applications could slowly get rid of the Microsoft applications, such as Office and IE, but the OS itself is hard to get rid of. This is the target and intended audience of ReactOS. Because of its compatibility and visual consistency with Windows, it removes many of the problems that people or companies face when switching to Linux: training everyone on the new OS, increased support costs, acquiring or writing new software, hardware incompatibilities, and the list grows. With ReactOS, all those worries vanish, except perhaps for the fact that any support contract with Microsoft will be rendered useless (however, any technician or 3rd-party personel in charge of this would have no problem).

I think this sounds like quite an interesting project that I want to try out soon. I had heard of ReactOS before, but I didn’t have much motivation to try it since I’m a Linux and Mac person primarily. But since I’ve started this site I’ve been interested in all sorts of different things to try. Look for a ReactOS review sometime in the future.