You guys need to speed up the development of ReactOS

[jonaspm]

ReactOS has a bigger future than any DOS version and Windows95... the roadmap of ReactOS it's okay

[classicgamelover85]

Its just I've been waiting a very long time. The last person I spoke to about this OS said this OS was dead and would never be finished. It'd never replace windows. But I wonder if that's true. He sounded pretty sure, about ReactOS being five minutes ago and pretty much outdated and last week. But I still have hope that it will become something great one day, but man its taking forever.

[milon]

Don't let one naysayer push you around. And if they're using phrases like "five minutes ago" and "outdated and last week", then they're likely the type of person who will welcome Windows 8 and all the crap that MS is trying to pull with it. Definitely NOT the sort of person who would be interested in ReactOS anyway.

[Aeneas]

... But with such attitude, you say "ReactOS is only for the patient conoisseurs" and "listen to the yes-sayers". Do you think this is truly a commendable alternative?

Our critics are an asset. And let us face it - they are right. It *IS* taking forever, and despite announcement after announcement of "something great in the works", "many more developers to come", "grand plans of great nature" and whatever else... none of these announcements ever materialised. ReactOS in reality is at a crossing, where many paths are open to it. This project will not make its choice by "what it wants" and "what it announces" - but by "what it does".

One path is "widespread adoption at least by dedicated nerds".

Another path is "tremendous task, cool OS, nice work, apt exercise for smart devs - but total 'hobby area' forever, no 'practical impact' at all".

You cannot, however, take the second path and pretend for the first. - I am contemplating it with curiosity and the best of wishes for its success. (I admit: for me success is the first path mentioned.)

[Pesho]

I remember a few years ago on some forum, someone called ReactOS a "WINE that boots"... If you're not interested enough and don't check up on it much, you're bound to downplay any effort that went into it. Windows is an everpresent, nagging reminder that there are so many unfinished areas. The usual reaction: "Is it as good as Windows yet? No? Then don't waste my time, this project is doomed." The Linux world didn't have any of that, nobody was asking "come on, how long until it's finished" even in the days when it was still crap because there was no such clear objective on what Linux should be. All it had was widespread adoption at least by dedicated nerds, as Aeneas put it. What pisses me off is that ReactOS has to scrounge for cash using all sorts of gimmicks while Linux gets all the big-company support. While still nobody uses Linux on desktops (well, 2%).

Also, i can't blame the ROS team for wanting to put up some good news and keep the fans happy. But when that doesn't materialize, or stalls, it feels bitter...

[classicgamelover85]

The usual reaction: "Is it as good as Windows yet? No? Then don't waste my time, this project is doomed." The Linux world didn't have any of that, nobody was asking "come on, how long until it's finished" even in the days when it was still crap because there was no such clear objective on what Linux should be. All it had was widespread adoption at least by dedicated nerds, as Aeneas put it.

Of course. Linux wasn't as amazing as ROS is going to be. Linux sucked from the beginning. I tried at least 4 builds and they were terrible. Of course nobody uses them hardly because you can't get much to run on it. and to play a windows game you have to fight with scripts and code, and all other junk. WINE doesn't do much of anything when you are a user from home who don't know too much about computers as it is. Not everyone in the world is a know-it-all nerd. When they use linux they freeze and question what next. When they want to play a game they have to go through frustrating set-ups to get it working right.

ReactOS on the other hand is like a beautiful gift from God himself. Its shiny and golden and every basic users dream come true! So of course I'm dying through the wait and look eager to the day it stomps windows in the ground which I'm sure it will. Windows costs money, ReactOS won't cost anything. But reactOS is as easy to use as Windows. I tried it and its UI was just amazing and easy to figure out. I was quite amazed by it. So I do see it promising some pretty awesome things in the future to come.

[erkinalp]

When they want to play a game they have to go through frustrating set-ups to get it working right

There are very good games for Linux too, but also, Steam began to service to Linux users, some game vendors ported their Windows games to Linux.

You click from a list of pre-approved programs, it *does something* and then it's installed.

It does very complex things in background and relies a command line utility suite called APT. Builds dependency tree by parsing package cache files one by one, downloads, extracts and installs in such an order that does not break dependency chains. Also installation via classic method is still possible (I installed VLMC from source using configure-make way).

[Pesho]

WINE doesn't do much of anything when you are a user from home who don't know too much about computers as it is. Not everyone in the world is a know-it-all nerd.

Actually, i'm kind of annoyed at the whole "App store" fashion in which Ubuntu is set up. You click from a list of pre-approved programs, it *does something* and then it's installed. Since i don't have much linux experience, trying to install anything out of that list becomes a nightmarish experience with having to re-learn everything or going through dependency hell. It's not about being a nerd or not, it's that switching to a completely different OS means starting from scratch. Ain't nobody got time for that. It's why Linux is so popular in the server and tablet world - those are all cases where constant average user interaction is severely limited.

There are very good games for Linux too, but also, Steam began to service to Linux users, some game vendors ported their Windows games to Linux.

With Team Fortress 2, anyone running it on linux received a little Tux item for the game as a gift. What's funny is that most people just ran it on a virtual machine or hacked their Steam clients in order to get it. I know i did

[Zc456]

It's not like they can just fork windows and be done with it.

[classicgamelover85]

Is there anything that I personally can do to speed up its development? Maybe I could report bugs to them? I've been doing all I could to help but maybe its not enough...

[wildschwein]

1.Spend regulary some money, e.g. every month 20 Euro
2.Try to help testing with an old real hardware PC, connected with a serial cable to your "real" PC - concentrate on some CORE issues, or ask in IRQ-Chanel what you should test
3. Pray that god helps to "free the world" with at free windows...(and seems like he his already helping a lot !)
4. Find and Convince some young highly skilled developers e.g. some idian or chinese guys, to help developing Ros in their freetime
5. win some money in a lottery and spend it to ROS

6. WAIT. Things will go on their own. (Wu tan wei....)

[classicgamelover85]

Speaking of which, did ReactOS complete its goal of raising 30000 dollars? what were they going to do with that money, did they say?

[hbelusca]

Is there anything that I personally can do to speed up its development? Maybe I could report bugs to them? I've been doing all I could to help but maybe its not enough...

1.Spend regulary some money, e.g. every month 20 Euro
2.Try to help testing with an old real hardware PC, connected with a serial cable to your "real" PC - concentrate on some CORE issues, or ask in IRQ-Chanel what you should test
3. Pray that god helps to "free the world" with at free windows...(and seems like he his already helping a lot !)
4. Find and Convince some young highly skilled developers e.g. some idian or chinese guys, to help developing Ros in their freetime
5. win some money in a lottery and spend it to ROS

6. WAIT. Things will go on their own. (Wu tan wei....)

...
7. And... Develop !! (or, if you're not a developer, spread the word to people you know and hope that somebody with C/C++ skills and maybe WinAPI knowledge show up).

Because, if there are 100 testers who create (in all), let's say, 20 reports per week (I don't have any idea whether those numbers are natural), the only 10 active developers of the project get quickly submerged by the whole work and, since they have real life besides the project (because, remember that, contrary to the Linux world, we don't have 100+ devs., and because, they don't work full-time for ReactOS), the overall project's development won't speed-up.

[The_French_Rat]

I'm studying the C++ tutorial right now.

[jonaspm]

I'm studying the C++ tutorial right now.

Nice move i have been studying also a bit of eC language, however, my learning speed is a bit slow