You guys need to speed up the development of ReactOS

[classicgamelover85]

I'll be an old man by time its even recommended for everyday use. From what I've heard you guys have been working on this since the 1990's and man that's a long time to be working on this project. Come on you got to think of a way to get this OS finished. Fact is, this is the only break anyone will get away from ever using windows again. I guess maybe i'm too anxious. I want to get away from windows so bad and use an Open Source OS that works like windows. Consider if you do finish this OS then consider software vendors may discontinue support for the NT technology and by then, ReactOS will be useless unless you implement a way it can still install software that has been unsupported by NT I don't know. Its just taking you too long. Man I can't stand the wait. Now please don't be hating on me because I'm struggling through this waiting period. I just worry that by time you guys finish I'll be dead. Oh god I hope that isn't true! I just want you to get to a point where you can recommend this OS for everyday use and its feature complete. That's all.

[dark]

Probably still working on that kickstarter thing that was supposed to be announced a month ago, maybe it's time for someone to just bite the bullet and stop trying to use a German non profit to fund things (especially since Kickstarter is only for US or UK). Either way, there would need to be some sort of monetization to get cash flowing into the project. (preferably used for more contracts on actual OS components instead of things like autohotkey tests.)

[drtgdgdfgdfgd]

> I want to get away from windows so bad and use an Open Source OS that works like windows. [... ] Its just taking you too long. Man I can't stand the wait. Now please don't be hating on me because I'm struggling through this waiting period. I just worry that by time you guys finish I'll be dead. Oh god I hope that isn't true! I just want you to get to a point where you can recommend this OS for everyday use and its feature complete.

I agree that ROS development is going really slowly. Unfortunately, developers cannot work on ROS all the time b/c they have to pay their bills. We need more volunteers and/or pay programmers who are already working on the OS.

> (preferably used for more contracts on actual OS components instead of things like autohotkey tests.)

Yes, yes, yes. Autohotkey tests were a complete waste of money. Highly skilled programmers who are working on the real and important stuff (console, ntvdm, kernel, etc) are paid nothing when at the same time other guys are getting paid for implementing trivial things. This is not okay.

[DOSGuy]

Well, I say someone wins the lottery and donates the money to ReactOS so that we can pay all of the developers to quit their jobs and work on ROS full time. That's the most realistic scenario to rapidly complete the project.

Yes, the project started in the 1990s, but that's irrelevant. Take a look at what has been accomplished in the last year. If the current pace continues, ROS should be looking pretty good a year from now, and even better two years from now. Without massive investment, it will indeed take many years before ROS can legitimately replace Windows for everyday use, but it's already compatible with a lot of great software right now. Check out the Epic Win thread for a list of cool stuff that works.

I'm very encouraged by what I've seen in the last year. Just be patient, or pony up some money to pay for contracts. Every little bit helps, and if you've been paying $200 for a new version of Windows every few years, it must be worth $20 to help ROS get to a point where you would never need to pay for Windows again.

[mrugiero]

I'll be an old man by time its even recommended for everyday use. From what I've heard you guys have been working on this since the 1990's and man that's a long time to be working on this project.

First, it's a moving target, second, the predecessor (the on which is around since the 90's) was more words than deeds, third, there was a long hiatus in development after some (later proved false) claims of MS copyrighted code within the project.

Fact is, this is the only break anyone will get away from ever using windows again.

No, it's not. If your concern is getting away from Windows, Linux and others do allow you to. The aim of this project is leaving Windows without leaving Windows, i.e., leaving Microsoft while keeping a similar system.

I guess maybe i'm too anxious. I want to get away from windows so bad and use an Open Source OS that works like windows. Consider if you do finish this OS then consider software vendors may discontinue support for the NT technology and by then, ReactOS will be useless unless you implement a way it can still install software that has been unsupported by NT I don't know. Its just taking you too long.

Do you realize there are no plans in sight for MS to drop NT? Windows 8 is still NT based. There seems to be switching the Win32 API in favor of Modern, but considering they will take 30% of the revenue of any app running on top of it and that it's basically a bunch of steps backwards on the desktop (split screen apps? tiling windows managers are running on Linux since forever, that looks like a joke for a desktop), if ReactOS achieves its goal by the time they actually move completely to Modern then it's even more likely that software companies will start targeting it, since it doesn't involve a learning curve and a 30% loss, compared to Modern apps.

Man I can't stand the wait. Now please don't be hating on me because I'm struggling through this waiting period. I just worry that by time you guys finish I'll be dead. Oh god I hope that isn't true! I just want you to get to a point where you can recommend this OS for everyday use and its feature complete. That's all.

Relax, we are all friends

Probably still working on that kickstarter thing that was supposed to be announced a month ago, maybe it's time for someone to just bite the bullet and stop trying to use a German non profit to fund things (especially since Kickstarter is only for US or UK). Either way, there would need to be some sort of monetization to get cash flowing into the project. (preferably used for more contracts on actual OS components instead of things like autohotkey tests.)

I don't agree on the focus. Programmers usually like to work on the actual features but dislike the janitorial work (like writing testing frameworks), so in a limited budget, the paid work should be the one nobody is willing to do for free. Of course, if there is better cash flow, then you can pay for the features, too

Yes, yes, yes. Autohotkey tests were a complete waste of money. Highly skilled programmers who are working on the real and important stuff (console, ntvdm, kernel, etc) are paid nothing when at the same time other guys are getting paid for implementing trivial things. This is not okay.

Keep in mind this kind of thing was agreed upon between the devs, IIRC. They'd know if that's trivial or not, or how much this could benefit the project. AFAIK, this "waste of money" helps automate a lot of real apps testing, giving fast and reliable feedback to the developers.

[jonaspm]

The ReactOS team is not that big and they are doing their best job, the best way to speed up development is by helping them, testing, coding, donating and spreading the word.

If we all do that, the ReactOS devs should be able to work more comfortable and the development should go faster too, because of all the help provided, we have to do something if we want our beloved OS to grow in code and in community.

[PurpleGurl]

Well, tests and things like that are a part of helping development. The test suites enable them to find bugs end users cannot find or won't report, and it ways that are useful to the devs. Having a user say, "It doesn't work" is not helpful. We could use more skilled devs and more donations. More testers would help, but they either have to be tolerant of our culture and procedures, or we have to make things easier for them.

They did find a way to get the donation thing unclogged. It is often easier for a non-profit to give to another non-profit, so you simply shift funds to a nonprofit in a place where the rules are not as stringent.

[drtgdgdfgdfgd]

> Keep in mind this kind of thing was agreed upon between the devs, IIRC. They'd know if that's trivial or not, or how much this could benefit the project. AFAIK, this "waste of money" helps automate a lot of real apps testing, giving fast and reliable feedback to the developers.

The fact that the developers agreed to spend money on these tests only shows that there were no guys who wanted to work on important things for the money they had. Paying for the "real apps testing" is not a great idea because these trivial tests are not very useful at this stage of the development. Tests of the API (ReactOS already has some) are what ROS really needs - these tests show exactly which parts of the OS are not implemented or broken. And I see no problems with paying someone to make them.

[ArmyMan007]

While I understand classicgamelover85's point of view and I share some of his thoughts as well, I can't imagine the speeding up the OS development without having a huge financial backbone. I actually thought about DOSGuy's idea

someone wins the lottery and donates the money to ReactOS

and by far it seems the only rational way to get some money

But to be honest, I've been here since 2007 and I'm still waiting, but for a project that has progressed so much over the past 6 years and have made an NT system very stable (not to mention a stable Hybrid kernel), I'll happily wait another 6 years if I have to

[Blutwurst]

My small suggestion for more donations, like I wrote it in the german forum.

http://www.goodsearch.com/

http://www.reactos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12674

[Aeneas]

Well, but I have to agree that you are having a window of opportunity that is somewhat closing.

April 2014 is the date. If until then ReactOS CANNOT be installed and somewhat work "on computers in general", you are basically on the path to a new FreeDOS.

If this is not happening and you do not find some stop-gap solution (like piggy-backing ReactOS on "Linux as firmware", i.e. a virtualisation solution that is transparent for the user), this will be going nowhere. You could as well go about recreating OS/8 for the PDP-8. (Yeah, that, TOO, would be an "impressive and time-consuming task" - it would, however, not make it practically relevant nonetheless.)

(BTW, I remember how guys were flamed just because they doubted the viability of OpenSolaris in light of Oracle. And now?)

Of course, as pointed out by others, ReactOS is... "not exactly unuseable". It get perceivably better mentioning across the relevant enthusiast communities already.

[erkinalp]

FreeDOS and ReactOS(I count Freedows95 too) started very or less the same time. But FreeDOS is 1.1, ReactOS is alpha despite the time passed.

[EmuandCo]

You dont want to compare a stupid DOS OS with a full blown Windows in Coding work, do you??

Btw, where is the problem with the German non profit? I dont get the argument

[gonzoMD]

FreeDOS and ReactOS(I count Freedows95 too) started very or less the same time. But FreeDOS is 1.1, ReactOS is alpha despite the time passed.

I think that The State of FreeWin95 would allready reached but FreeWin95 became ReactOS, which is a complete different project.
Win 95 is in general Dos + Shell + winAPI, all of this is already achieved. The first Version of Win95 didn't have USB, ACPI and other things that are already implemented in ReactOS.

So you can see The Targets of the early days of ReactOS (exactly I mean FreeWin95) are achieved, but if the project were following the old targets, the project would be already a second FreeDOS, which can run some Windows Apps.

[DOSGuy]

FreeDOS and ReactOS(I count Freedows95 too) started very or less the same time. But FreeDOS is 1.1, ReactOS is alpha despite the time passed.

DOS is about as barebones as an operating system can possibly be. Don't forget that DOS 1.0 was basically written by one person.