The ReactOS project has announced release of ReactOS 0.4.3, fourth incremental update of independently developed, windows binary compatible, open source operating system inspired by windows 9.x architecture. This release proves that, the projects plan to release incremental updates is on track and going as expected.
With this release, ReactOS has fixed almost 342 issues including text alignment issue which was due since 2006. Another notable highlight of this release is switching to a new winsock library which was undergoing development for several years. This will enable effective support for all network operations in user mode applications and improve ReactOS compatibility with applications like GoG(Good Old Games) client and newer versions of python runtime.
With this release, ReactOS has fixed almost 342 issues including text alignment issue which was due since 2006. Another notable highlight of this release is switching to a new winsock library which was undergoing development for several years. This will enable effective support for all network operations in user mode applications and improve ReactOS compatibility with applications like GoG(Good Old Games) client and newer versions of python runtime.
Notable in this release is the switching to a new winsock library that had been started several years ago by Alex Ionescu and imported into trunk by Ged Murphy. Even after it was brought in however significant work remained to be done before it could replace the old winsock library, work which Peter Hater and Andreas Maier undertook. Their effort has now reached a point wherein the team feels it is ready to supplant the original library and 0.4.3 serves as the first release to incorporate it. As the winsock library underpins effectively all network operations in user mode applications, and its improvement should be a significant boon for ReactOS' compatibility with such programs as the Good old Games (GoG) client and newer versions of the Python runtime.You can find more highlights, previews and screenshots of this release in a release announcement published by ReactOS project.
Behind the scenes the team has made a major effort to flesh out the test suite, ranging from memory related functionality to the windows shell API. Work also continues on the aptly named Another Rewrite of the Memory Manager Module (ARM3) with the initial implementation of sections support, the last major piece of functionality before it can completely replace the old memory manager.