The open source alternative to Windows, ReactOS, has reached a major milestone: the operating system can now be installed directly on an NT file system drive partition. As Phoronix reported, the move to NTFS clears a long-standing hurdle for the project and brings it closer to beta.
Before this latest announcement, ReactOS required users to maintain a FAT32 partition for installations. A proprietary file system developed by Microsoft, NTFS can trace its roots back to the Windows NT family starting in 1993 with Windows NT 3.1. The variant introduced with Windows XP in 2001 remains the standard used by most Windows systems today. Since the stated goal of ReactOS is to achieve binary compatibility with Windows Server 2003, being limited to FAT32 partitions was a practical hurdle to overcome to replicate the Windows environment.
However, users who want to get off the Windows train shouldn’t pack their bags just yet. ReactOS wrote that the new driver “still lacks caching (resulting in lower performance), logging, and security support.” So while the new driver is here, even the most intrepid operating system tinkerers should exercise caution. The ReactOS team warned in its X announcement that there are still “potentially undiscovered bugs.”
Gn tech
