History ReactOS

1 history

1.1 development
1.2 ekush os fork
1.3 internal audit
1.4 google summer of code participation
1.5 public demonstration
1.6 funding campaigns
1.7 thorium core cloud desktop project
1.8 reactos community edition
1.9 reactos hackfest 2015

history
early development

around 1996, group of free , open-source software developers started project called freewin95 implement clone of windows 95. project stalled in discussions of design of system.

while freewin95 had started out high expectations, there still had not been builds released public end of 1997. result, project members, led coordinator jason filby, joined revive project. revived project sought duplicate functionality of windows nt. in creating new project, new name, reactos, chosen. project began development in february 1998 creating basis new nt kernel , basic drivers. name reactos coined during irc chat. while term os stood operating system, term react referred group s dissatisfaction with – , reaction to – microsoft s monopolistic position.

ekush os fork

in 2004, copyright / license violation of reactos gpl ed code (and other foss code) found when distributed reactos fork under name ekush os. webpage later went offline.

internal audit

in order avoid copyright prosecution, reactos must expressly distinct , non-derivative windows, goal needs careful work. claim made on 17 january 2006, former developer hartmut birr on reactos developers mailing list (ros-dev) reactos contained code derived disassembling microsoft windows. code birr disputed involved function badstack in syscall.s. other unspecified items. comparing function disassembled binaries windows xp, birr argued badstack function copy-pasted windows xp, given identical. alex ionescu, author of code, asserted while windows xp binary in question indeed disassembled , studied, code not merely copy-pasted, reimplemented; reason why functions identical, ionescu claimed, because there 1 possible way implement function.

on 27 january 2006, developers responsible maintaining reactos code repository disabled access after meeting held discuss allegations. when approached newsforge, microsoft declined comment incident. since reactos free , open-source software development project, claim triggered negative reaction free software community; in particular, wine barred several inactive developers providing contributions , formal high level cooperation between 2 projects remained difficult of 2006. contributions several active reactos developers have been accepted post-audit, , low level cooperation bug fixes still occurs.

in statement on website, reactos cited differing legal definitions of constitutes clean-room reverse engineering cause conflict. countries, including united states, require reimplementation based on disassembled code must written other person having disassembled , examined original code, whereas other countries allow both tasks performed same individual. consequently, reactos clarified intellectual property policy statement requirements on clean room reverse engineering conform law. internal source code audit conducted ensure clean room reverse engineering used, , developers made sign agreement committing them comply project s policies on reverse engineering. contributors development not affected these events, , access software development tools restored shortly afterward. in september 2007, audit nearing completion, audit status removed reactos homepage. though audit completed, specific details not made public internal effort ensure compliance project s own policies.

much of assembly code allegedly copied has been replaced natural progression in reactos development, developers having reimplemented functionality in c portability reasons.

also, 2004 leaked windows source code not seen legal risk reactos, trade secret considered indefensible in court due broad spread.

google summer of code participation

starting in 2006 reactos project participated in several google summers of code. example, in gsoc 2011 reactos mentored student project integrated lwip network stack. reactos has date participated 4 times in gsoc: 2006, 2011, 2016, , 2017.

public demonstration

reactos project coordinator aleksey bragin (left) showing reactos viktor alksnis



the prime minister of russia dmitry medvedev (left) being given demonstration of reactos

demonstrations of operating system have been given, russian political figures. viktor alksnis met project coordinator aleksey bragin, gave presentation , demonstration of project, showing reactos running total commander , mozilla firefox in 2007. dmitry medvedev given demonstration during visit president of russia high school in verhnerusskoe, stavropol, attended 1 of development team members in 2011.

on 31 july 2012, vladimir putin given demonstration during visit president of russia seliger youth forum, attended marat karatov, 1 of development team members.

funding campaigns

on 1 may 2012 30,000 euro funding campaign started finance additional development projects. on end of year approximately 50% of funding goal achieved , decided continue funding campaign without deadlines. money went reactos deutschland e. v.. tax law in germany form of registered voluntary association (eingetragener verein) makes problematic pay developers directly, indirect possibilities stipends evaluated.

thorium core cloud desktop project

when reactos awarded project of month on sourceforge on june 2013, crowdfunding campaign on kickstarter announced in interview project s coordinator, aleksey bragin. on 23 december 2013 announced project revealed kickstarter campaign goal of us$120,000 started. thorium core cloud desktop dubbed cloud computing service use reactos core , allow use of windows compatible applications mobile devices (like smartphones, tablets), workstations, or other connected device. on 21 february 2014, fundraising ended short of target amount, $48,965 of $120,000 raised, resulting in no transferred money.

reactos community edition

in april 2014, reactos project announced indiegogo campaign launch reactos community edition, version of reactos based on 0.4 release. flexible funding campaign had goal of us$50,000 additional stretch goals beyond that. development of reactos community edition community-centric, reactos users voting , funding decide software , hardware drivers project aim support. on 1 june 2014, flexible crowdfunding campaign on indiegogo finished raising $25,141 development of community edition, , voting process support hardware , software started shortly after.

reactos hackfest 2015


reactos printing first time

the reactos project organized hackfest 7 12 august 2015, in german city of aachen. hackfest declared success, added many features reactos.