ReactOS maybe the OS you just need?

So you have run the latest Windows and found out that 10 is full of bloatware and updates to nail your PC to the ground. You may have also tried Linux, but found some things it does, and some things it won't, or impossible to be made to work, like camera drivers for example. Stuff which would work with Windows no problem. You may have tried running Windows Apps under Wine on top of Linux, some work, but some refuse point blank, or you have just found Linux too geeky and given up?

You have also discovered there is a lot more software around for Windows against Linux, especially for our radio hobby.

Also there is the no security update problem with those using ageing copies of XP, 2000, Vista and Win 7. Like myself whom will fall into the no support trap in another 18 months or so?

You also don't like paying for a new operating system and want it for free!


Well I might of found something that is being developed as an open source operating system that appears to fit the bill called ReactOS.
 
ReactOS is only up to version 0.47a, so it is in it's very early stages of development and I guess full of bugs, but it does seem to work as you would expect from a Windows operating system.

I have done a bit more research around the Web and found that only a day ago, Chris Barnatt of Explainingcomputers.com had just made a video about the product, which I have bopped the link here for you all to watch below:

This seems quite an exciting development as operating systems go, and something tight fisted penny pinching Radio Hams have been looking around for a number of years. Currently, I am not minded to move to it yet until it gets passed the beta stages, but it is something I would welcome very soon.

Windows 7 says it's last goodbye!

Last night I switched on the PC it booted into Windows 7 as normal, after a quick look around at a few Ham sites I was called for my tea. After returning to my desk after eating my roast beef and Yorkshire puds I returned to something new!

Unknowing to me Windows 10 had downloaded in the background and installed itself on my PC without even informing me. Yes, Microsoft can take over your machine without you even knowing! It appears if you have got your settings set for auto updates it will do this. Beware! Big brother is really alive! Would Microsoft like it if I came in through the back door and took over their servers and PCs, I think not!


I must admit though, there were only a couple of little hiccups which I sorted in an hour or so, everything seems to have gone over clean. It appears you can revert back to your previous operating system but only within 30 days of the install.