The open source Windows alternative, ReactOS, has reached a major milestone: the operating system can now be installed directly to an NT file system drive partition. As Phoronix reported, the move to NTFS removes a long-standing obstacle for the project and brings it one step closer to finally reaching beta.
Prior to this latest announcement, ReactOS required users to maintain a FAT32 partition for installations. NTFS, a proprietary file system developed by Microsoft, has its roots in the lineage of the Windows NT family that began in 1993 with Windows NT 3.1. The variant introduced with Windows XP in 2001 remains the standard used by most Windows systems today. With ReactOS’s stated goal of achieving binary compatibility with Windows Server 2003, being confined to FAT32 partitions was a practical barrier that needed to be removed on the path to reproducing the Windows environment.
However, users who want to get off the Windows train should not grab their bags just yet. ReactOS wrote that the new driver still “lacks caching (leading to lower performance), journaling, and security support.” So while the new driver is here, even the most intrepid OS experts should tread carefully. The ReactOS team warned in its announcement about X that there are still “potentially undiscovered bugs.”
