# ReactOS 74 Hacker News commenters recommended ReactOS and 19 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 2 years (3 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Recommended as a free, open-source reimplementation of Windows that runs many Windows programs and drivers without phoning home; critics agree it is not yet stable enough for daily use. ## Why people recommend it - Open alternative to Windows (3 comments): "if it can run windows exes out of the box, whilst not phoning home to microsoft, it becomes an attractive proposition" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46720878)) "It ensures WinNT survives as a platform even if Microsoft abandons it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46719137)) "With the way Asahi Linux, WINE and ReactOS operate - no AI, reverse-engineering has to be very carefully documented - it is much, much less likely someone can complain about violating laws and licenses." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49596448)) - Steady progress on few resources (3 comments): "it is impressive that is starting to have less and less problems than few years ago" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48773084)) "They've already made a lot of progress with almost no resources as is." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46728716)) "Looks like a lot of improvements on long-standing hard-to-find issues" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49509747)) - Runs proprietary Windows drivers (2 comments): "You can run proprietary drivers with ReactOS since it replicates the driver layer too." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48525775)) "ReactOS has made significant progress in supporting proprietary graphics drivers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47529432)) - Interesting hobby project to explore (4 comments): "This, ReactOS, and TempleOS have been my answer to the question of: "what should I install if I'm looking for something interesting?"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49040597)) "for a hobby OS, keeping hardware and software accessible after the rest of the world broke access, it still works" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48523960)) "Although not viable for daily driving yet, still fun to play around with in a VM" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48134502)) ## What people warn about - Not stable enough for daily use (4 comments): "the hard part is the compatibility (that is given by many still missing parts) and stability (the still defective parts)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46725848)) "in some ways it's closer than it feels to being acceptable as a daily driver, in others it's quite far away" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46739179)) "Still not nearly stable enough to be used as a daily driver, but it's been getting a lot better lately." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46733925)) - Little practical purpose beyond replication (3 comments): "solves for a very small set of practical use cases which are not covered by real Windows, or Linux+WINE" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46722574)) "if there was a purpose for it besides having an "is able to" replica, it would attract more people." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46719534)) "best viewed as an enthusiast research / challenge project with no practical use" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46720068)) - Slow development and little interest (3 comments): "ReactOS has been very slow to develop, and probably missed the point where it could make an impact." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46719732)) "Development on the project has never been fast but somewhere around 2018 it dropped even more" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46721603)) "there's never been enough interest in ReactOS to get it to the point where it's stable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48536185)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Windows](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windows.md): 1287 recommend - [macOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macos.md): 1041 recommend - [Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/linux.md): 745 recommend - [Haiku](https://hackerapproved.com/p/haiku-os.md): 115 recommend - [NetBSD](https://hackerapproved.com/p/netbsd.md): 100 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "ReactOS", https://hackerapproved.com/p/reactos/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).