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2ReactOS™ Version 0.4.x
3Updated August 31, 2016
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61. What is ReactOS?
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8
9ReactOS™ is an Open Source effort to develop a quality operating system that is
10compatible with applications and drivers written for the Microsoft® Windows™ NT
11family of operating systems (NT4, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, Seven).
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13More information is available at: https://www.reactos.org
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162. Relationship with the WINE project
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19ReactOS has always intended to work with the WINE project to share as much
20programming effort as possible. This mainly concerns User Mode DLLs and
21still happens to a degree today. Other areas of cooperation lie in
22applications and testing suites.
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253. Future compatibility
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28The ReactOS project, although currently focused on Windows Server 2003
29compatibility, is always keeping an eye toward compatibility with
30Windows Vista and future Windows NT releases.
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334. Supporting other System Applications
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35
36The Windows NT architecture allows for subsystems, as does the ReactOS
37architecture. A subsystem is an implementation of the APIs of another
38operating system, allowing ReactOS to run applications from other systems.
39We are already looking at subsystems for: Java, OS/2, and DOS and possibly
40others in the future.
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42
435. Is ReactOS legal?
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45
46Yes we are.
47All the code of ReactOS has been written from scratch by our developers.
48We go to great lengths to ensure that the code our developers create is clean,
49same applies to the variety of methods we use to understand Windows internals,
50including clean room reverse engineering, using existing documentation freely
51available both in books and on the web, using extensive tests (tens of millions)
52which apply black box engineering methods against both public and private APIs
53exposed by the operating system.
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566. Tutorials
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59Developer and User Tutorials: https://www.reactos.org/wiki
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61The tutorials contain more information on the project, compiling and testing
62ReactOS - amongst other topics. Contributors to the project are always welcome.
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657. Frequently Asked Questions
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67
68Some of your questions may be answered in: https://www.reactos.org/joining/faqs
69In addition, the ReactOS forum: https://www.reactos.org/forum/ may contain
70complementary, yet non-official, information.
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738. Authors
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76This document was originally written by Jason Filby (jasonfilby@yahoo.com)
77and is now occasionally updated by various contributors.
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