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ZDNET's key takeaways

• ReactOS is a free, open-source Windows alternative.
• This OS has merged the Live and Boot ISOs for easier installation.
• The changes will arrive in the next release.

I recently wrote about ReactOS in "My 5 favorite open-source operating systems that aren't Linux." One of those OSes is ReactOS, which aims to look and feel just like Windows, but has nothing to do with Microsoft.

Although ReactOS is really easy to use, installing it has been, well, less so. When you go to download an ISO image for installation, you'll notice there's a live version and a boot version. The boot version is what you would use to install ReactOS, and when you go to do so, you'll find that it's an old-school, text-based installation.

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Not very Windows-like, eh?

Well, there's good news for those who are hoping to give ReactOS a try. The developers have merged the LiveCD and the text-based installer, so you get both on one ISO (which you can use to create a bootable USB drive). What this does is bring the ReactOS installation more in line with Linux installations.

Why this is important

The problem with previous iterations is that those who want to try ReactOS before installing it can now do that via the live CD, and then, should they like what they see, can install the OS from the same instance. 

With these two merged, there'll be no need to test it with the live CD, and then have to boot the Boot CD for installation. For many users, that would be confusing enough to prevent them from giving ReactOS a try.

This is a big step forward in making ReactOS more user-friendly.

There is a caveat. Although the live CD instance is a full-blown, modern Windows-like GUI, the installation resembles the installation for much older versions of Windows (it's text-based).

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That's not to say the installation is challenging; it can just be a bit daunting. There's more good news on that front. The developers have also created the foundation for a full-blown GUI installation that is due to be available with the 0.4.16 build. 

There's more good news

Prior to this merge, ReactOS was limited to a small list of hardware. With the upcoming release, ReactOS is getting a new ATA storage driver, which means the OS will boot on SATA, PATA, ATAPI, and AHCI storage devices.

Is ReactOS for you?

If you're looking for an exact clone of Windows 8, 10, or 11, then you might be a bit disappointed by ReactOS. If you don't mind using an OS that's more akin to Windows XP or 7, ReactOS will be a treat. And because ReactOS has been developed to be compatible with Windows software, it should make leaving Windows easy.

However, keep in mind that ReactOS is still in the alpha stage of development, and it's been that way for some time. That means it'll be a while before ReactOS is ready for general usage. What that means is that you should only consider the current version of ReactOS as something to try, rather than something to depend on.

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I've spent plenty of time with ReactOS to confidently say that once the developers get the full GUI installer, this will be a great alternative to Windows. However, because this is still in alpha, you can bet that it's unstable. On top of that, the default web browser is quite outdated, so you'll need to install an alternative. When you go to try to install a web browser, you'll find that ReactOS only supports older browsers. Hopefully, this will change as the OS gets closer to beta and general release. The two best options for the current release are K-Meleon (Goanna Engine) and Mozilla Firefox 52 ESR.

As I mentioned earlier, these new changes won't appear until the 0.4.16 release. Currently, the latest release is 0.4.15, and there's no indication as to when the next version will be available, so you'll have to keep checking the ReactOS Download page to see if that changes.

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I hope ReactOS continues its trajectory so those wanting to leave Windows will have even more options. Although the work on ReactOS is slow, it gets better with each release, and I would predict that once it is out of beta, this OS will be an ideal platform for those looking for the freedom of open-source, but aren't ready to go with Linux.