ReactOS is an open source reimplementation of Windows NT series operating system (e.g. Win 2003 Server, 7, 2008). Similar to Linux started as an reimplementation of Unix.

ReactOS has binary compatible with Windows. This allow your Windows applications and drivers to run as they would on your Windows system. Additionally, the look and feel of the Windows operating system is used (Win95 classic style and WinXP theme support).

ReactOS is still in development, but a lot of Windows apps and some several types of hardware drivers work fine or with minor glitches.

You can find screenshots on http://www.reactos.org and even more on the following page: http://old.reactos.org/en/screenshots.html

It's simply not suitable for real-world usage, and actually, not suitable for anything more than installing it in a virtual machine, playing with it for fun, and destroying the VM. The "alpha"ness of ReactOS is not the same concept of, say, Ubuntu.

Sad, but true. It needs a huge amount of work; compatibility matter little - if one needs compatibility for a given up, wine is a much more usable choice.

If one really needs XP compatiblity, I think an XP in a virtual machine without networking is going to be the workaround for a very long time.