Microsoft engineer: ReactOS is “a ripoff of the Windows Research Kernel that Microsoft licensed to universities.”

Recently, Microsoft kernel engineer Axel Rietschin said that ReactOS is “a ripoff of the Windows Research Kernel that Microsoft licensed to universities.” As a senior software engineer in Windows Foundation Kernel and Container Technology, Axel wrote on Quora: “I think it’s a ripoff of the Windows Research Kernel that Microsoft licensed to universities under an agreement that was obviously violated by some, as the code has been uploaded to numerous places, some of it on GitHub.

I glanced at the ReactOS code tree, and in my opinion, there is absolutely no way on Earth this was written from a clean sheet only from the available public documentation.”

ReactOS is a free and open-source operating system, it is based on the Windows NT architecture reflected in the best design concept. ReactOS is written entirely from scratch, it is not based on the Linux system, and does not have in common with the UNIX architecture. The purpose of the ReactOS project is to provide a binary-compatible operating system with Windows. This allows Windows applications and drivers to function as they do on Windows systems. In addition, the Windows operating system perception is also used, so familiar with the Windows user interface will be able to use ReactOS straightforward. The ultimate goal of ReactOS is to let people use it as an alternative to Windows, without having to replace the software they are familiar with.