What draws people to Reactos?

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PurpleGurl
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What draws people to Reactos?

Post by PurpleGurl »

That is a question we should probably ask. Then we will have a better idea for a PR strategy. For me here are some of what drew me:

1. It is not Microsoft. While I love their product and innovation to a point, I feel that commercial interests and included clutter have diminished it. I also feel they are starting to lose touch with customers.

2. We have the potential for optimizing. Since we are diverse in backgrounds, cultures, and are not working in an environment where excessive conformity is demanded, I am sure many of us can come up with ways to optimize things and give better performance than Microsoft if we wanted to put forth that effort. I know that right now, just getting it to work reliably and as expected is what we are up against. When we reach that, there will be time to optimize. I mentioned before how I'd like to see at least some of the most time-critical things ported back to assembly and hand-optimized for newer equipment. Not officially for the entire project, but as a branch, port, or fork. But the project is not to the point to consider such.

3. It is of a lighter weight. It installs much faster and boots somewhat faster. It has less unnecessary stuff.

4. There are no artificial limits, activation, license checks, etc., and it is free. So an existing installation can be moved to new or replacement hardware without difficulty. Plus less resources can be used for things like constantly guarding for circumvention and changes in registry keys related to the flavor of Windows (like 2000 Corporate vs. 2000 Server - they are the same thing but with a few registry keys different and maybe a file or two different).

5. Users who like the classical look can keep it and not be forced to change to what some company or the media says we should use. Windows 8 not only added the RT stuff, but deliberately removed any means to make it function like the classical versions when they found out that users were modifying the preview version back to that.

So what are some other reasons?
Last edited by PurpleGurl on Fri Aug 17, 2012 6:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jonaspm
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Re: What draws people to Reactos?

Post by jonaspm »

for me:

1.- It´s not Microsoft

2.- It´s totally free, no need to pay licenses in house or school

3.- Open source, so everyone can help development

4.- From people to people

5.- Can take the roadmap people, devs and users want
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Pesho
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Re: What draws people to Reactos?

Post by Pesho »

I think this list is more or less the same for everybody. It's pretty apparent that a feature-complete ReactOS would be a far superior product than anything Microsoft can provide.

But what draws me in doesn't have anything to do with Microsoft - rather it's that ROS is an open-source operating system that isn't Linux. I don't mean to bash Linux here either, but it's so different from what Win users are accustomed to that it requires a major investment in re-learning basic things that go against any current habits. And even then there is a major portion of very specific software that is incompatible with the Linux systems like all major Autodesk applications, Adobe's products or any game that requires the DirectX API.
Witch
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Re: What draws people to Reactos?

Post by Witch »

1. ReactOS fills a void that Linux cannot solve permanently.

I initially wanted to install my old Windows XP games on Linux using Wine and such but it required too much work. And if you're lucky to make things work it wasn't running smooth.
Then when there's a patch for a game then you would have to wait for Wine to adapt the code which can take forever.

So I wanted to join Wine and help them out in my special way. But they don't allow people to speak and discuss ideas if it's not Wine-code related. My attempt to join and help Wine project only resulted in a thermonuclear war about enabling the use of real phpBB and not only using mailing-lists disguised with a phpBB front.

So I had nowhere to go and then stumbled on ReactOS which already allowed the use of real phpBB and allowed people to discuss ideas not only limited to coding. Which suited me well. And it solves the problem much better than Wine does.
SomeGuy
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Re: What draws people to Reactos?

Post by SomeGuy »

For me it was the challenge of trying to get Windows applications to run under a non-Windows environment. Many Windows programs are designed almost with the assumption that the end user will have the exact same set of bits on their computer. It is often a challenge just to get said Windows software running on actual Microsoft Windows of the specific version and update level it was designed for just because of some configuration difference.

Also, as much as I like what Linux stands for, the way it does things often makes me feel like I'm running a 1970's PDP-11.

And as strange as it may seem, ReactOS seems to be the only OS left that still embodies the spirit of the original Macintosh. (Integrated GUI, desktop icons, etc) Microsoft "copied" some of the things the Mac did underneath the hood in early Windows so they could have something to port their Mac apps to the PC. Then they heavily copied the desktop in Windows 95/NT 4. Today MacOS X is just NextStep/Unix, most Linux desktops are poor imitations lacking integration, and Windows wants to be a telephone :? .
milon
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Re: What draws people to Reactos?

Post by milon »

The major points for me are that ROS is:
[EDITED]
1) Free & Open Source
2) Reasonable on the system requirements
3) Windows-like
4) an Operating System (not a Domineering System that the MS OS is becoming...)
5) Uncluttered
Last edited by milon on Fri Aug 17, 2012 3:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.
fred02
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Re: What draws people to Reactos?

Post by fred02 »

Necrophilia! :mrgreen: I have (quite) a bunch of old hardware and software that work just good enough and will be a (terrible) waste to trow away.
I also learn about Windows internals by following ROS development.
Witch
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Re: What draws people to Reactos?

Post by Witch »

SomeGuy wrote:... , and Windows wants to be a telephone :? .
:D

1. ReactOS fills a void that Linux+Wine cannot permanently solve.
2. Eliminate stupid questions for all call-centers around the world.

Yeah I just remembered another reason why I was drawn to help ReactOS fulfill its true destiny. To eliminate never ending stupid questions from people for all call-centers around the world. I once worked a few months at a multinational computer company's call-center answering all questions from consumers regarding Computer/Network/Palmpilot/Notebook/Netbook and Modem problems. The amount of stupid questions that kept coming back from the world was like listening to the world stuck in a stupid loop.

I use the word stupid a lot because that's how it feels to work for multinational computer companies that doesn't show any interest in making instructions easier for consumers.
I was once told from a coworker that IBM ships their laptops with a hundred page manual containing a bunch of legal text along with some stupid and outdated non user friendly instructions.

Apple in comparison I was told ships their products with just one note in the box "Have fun!".
With ReactOS finished I think I can help make the best manuals in the world so that stupid people never have to bother any call-centers ever again with their never ending stupid questions. :)
DOSGuy
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Re: What draws people to Reactos?

Post by DOSGuy »

For me, the promise of ReactOS is that it can be/have:

1. Free
2. Low system requirements
3. Universal Windows compatibility

Points 1 and 2 have been achieved. Point 3 still needs a fair amount of work, but it seems possible.

At the moment, ROS only supports PE files. Wine also supports NE files, so I dare to hope that ReactOS will someday run Win16 software. If ROS can ever support everything that Wine supports, then you have the ultimate OS: a free OS that can run any Windows program and use Windows drivers and not have to use Linux! How much sweeter does it get than that?
Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article. Get free BeOS, DOS, OS/2, and Windows games at RGB Classic Games.
Witch
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Re: What draws people to Reactos?

Post by Witch »

1. ReactOS fills a void that Linux+Wine cannot permanently solve.
2. Eliminate stupid questions for all call-centers around the world.
3. Hotmail.com and my mother.

3.
I just thought of my 3rd reason. My mother doesn't care about maintenance when using pre-installed Windows Vista and she clicks on everything on the Internet. So after 2 years of clogged up cookies and ad/spam stuff the computer takes like 5 minutes to startup Windows and another 5 minutes to start any chosen program such as Notepad or Web browser. When that happens there's no point in running maintenance programs all I can do is flush the whole thing and re-install Windows Vista.

So in order for me to avoid having to do that every 2 years. I install Linux Ubuntu which is more difficult for somebody like my mother to handle but it doesn't get clogged up with cookies and ad/spam stuff after 2 years. I only need to re-install that every 7-10 years if the system starts to lag.

But ever since Microsoft upgraded Hotmail.com this month you can no longer type in user/password on their website with my mother's Linux Ubuntu.

* So I don't want to install Windows Vista again just because she can no longer use Hotmail.com.
* And I don't want to install the latest Linux Ubuntu just because Hotmail.com no longer works with this system.
* ReactOS would solve my Hotmail and mother problems once and for all.

I have now after much manual work managed to transfer all her old Hotmail.com contacts to Gmail.com. Gmail works on all regular platforms!
SomeGuy
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Re: What draws people to Reactos?

Post by SomeGuy »

Actually, one thing that *should* attract people is simply that it is open source. If Microsoft suddenly closed up shop tomorrow the entire world would be screwed, as all of the source code would disappear with them. That's impossible with Open Source. If an open source entity shuts down or even takes development in an unwanted direction, any interested party can just throw up the code somewhere else and have at it.

Right now most people concerned with such things are using Linux, but there can never be too many options.
DOSGuy
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Re: What draws people to Reactos?

Post by DOSGuy »

Microsoft won't close up shop unless people stop buying Windows. If people stop buying Windows, it's a dead platform that only geeks like us want to use for legacy software and nostalgia.

Open source is definitely a good thing, but if the market for Windows ever dries up, that's pretty much it for ReactOS, too.
Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article. Get free BeOS, DOS, OS/2, and Windows games at RGB Classic Games.
wildschwein
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Re: What draws people to Reactos?

Post by wildschwein »

My opinion:

all the points mentioned above, and.

- automatically security patches, done by a big, big worldwide community - (like it's already done in Linux). Thousand of Maintainers worldwide for every part of ROS, that react very fast. (This is a destination to be reached, maybe in 10 years, when ROS is well known wordwide)

- possibility to use his computer system 20, 30 years or longer, without the need to replax "good old" programmes because they are no longer supported. (like Winamp 2.91c, Open-Office, etc)

- some senseful, intelligent enhancements in ROS that doesn't exist in XP now. Changing System state to fresh installation WITH Keeping all Application, more Verbosity about .dlls, what files belong to what application, etc....
Planetary_Myth
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Re: What draws people to Reactos?

Post by Planetary_Myth »

These are my reasons.

1) Windows is bloated with software that is not needed and installs alot of excess drivers and such that takes up space for no reason. This takes me back to the first mac I owned where i could install for only the machine i was using or install for any machine and put the drive in any machine if that one died with out reinstalling the system. Reactos is not bloated and as for drivers if you need them you just install them manually.

2) Speed wise Reactos uses less system resources which leaves more for the applications you want to run.

3) Compatibility with older software and games that i have kicking around.

4) Source code is available and can be changed if needed.
fred02
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Re: What draws people to Reactos?

Post by fred02 »

DOSGuy wrote: if the market for Windows ever dries up, that's pretty much it for ReactOS, too.
I totally disagree. "The death of DOS has been greatly exaggerated". :D
I mean that with Windows gone, ROS (and Wine) will become what Free-DOS and DOSBox are to DOS now.
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