SerenityOS
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 40 of 73 operating systems by recommenders
A Unix-like operating system with a classic Windows 2000 look, built as a hobby project for tinkering. Critics note weak hardware support and slowed momentum since its lead developer left.
10 people recommended SerenityOS in Hacker News comments, 4 had mixed feelings and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 15 comments.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- mixed feelings
- 4
- warn against or regret it
- 2
The record
Recommended in 5 of 12 months
In 8 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 8 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 20% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 15 of the 17 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Unix-like with classic Windows UI
“I think SerenityOS's vision of a unix-like environment with classic Windows UI is genius.”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “The Windows 95 User Interface: A Case Study in Usability Engineering” “It's a Unix-like with a Win2K GUI, which is a pretty attractive combination”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Loss32: Let's Build a Win32/Linux” “SerenityOS GUI is a dream”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “Android's full desktop interface leaks: New status bar, Chrome Extensions” Fun side project for tinkering
“spent years coding an arguably pointless project purely for the enjoyment of it”
Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “Coders Coded Their Job Away. Why Are So Many of Them Happy About It?” “serves as a cool side project for those who like to tinker with OS dev”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “The Windows 95 User Interface: A Case Study in Usability Engineering” “It celebrated coding for coding's sake”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Changing How We Develop Ladybird” Appealing vision and overall project
“I really like what SerenityOS is going for”
Comment from 3 May 2026 in “This Month in Ladybird - April 2026” “I love SerenityOS so much”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “What was nice about the UI of Windows 2000”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Seen as pointless or abandoned
“First he started an OS called Serenity, then abandoned that”
Comment from 24 Feb 2026 in “Ladybird Browser adopts Rust”
Other operating systems people recommend
The four most recommended other operating systems, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 73 operating systems, rankedWhat people said
15 of the 17 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I love SerenityOS so much”
“It celebrated coding for coding's sake”
“the thing that made the community around Serenity and Ladybird so good”
“still fun to play around with in a VM”
“it has totally lost momentum since Andreas left”
“I really like what SerenityOS is going for”
“spent years coding an arguably pointless project purely for the enjoyment of it”
“serves as a cool side project for those who like to tinker with OS dev”
“Their policy to not use any external code or libraries is what will finally kill the project.”
“I think SerenityOS's vision of a unix-like environment with classic Windows UI is genius.”
“First he started an OS called Serenity, then abandoned that”
“SerenityOS GUI is a dream”
“It's a Unix-like with a Win2K GUI, which is a pretty attractive combination”
“If it ever gets good hardware support it might have a chance.”
“You will be blown away by Serenity OS then.”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.