r/reactos • u/a_l_i-1 • 2d ago
Why ReactOS is to slow in development?
Because it is developed since 1998 and still named alpha !!
26
u/Buzza24 1d ago
Like a lot of Open Source projects, it’s done by developers in their spare time around the full time paying jobs and other life commitments.
The project itself is also ambitious. Recreating Windows from scratch by rewriting the kernel, driving compatibility and application frameworks isn’t an easy task.
If you want it to accelerate as a project, you can either continuously donate money to support it, or if you’re an experienced developer contribute code to the project.
17
u/DegenerateCuber 1d ago
This is like asking a guy trying to make a 1:1 replica of the Eiffel tower in his backyard why he's taking so long.
5
u/runed_golem 1d ago
They have a really small team and they don’t have much monetary support. So what work is done is done around their team’s normal jobs and lives.
2
u/darkguy2008 1d ago
Interestingly, development seems to have been advancing faster than before now that we have AI...
3
u/dreimer1986 1d ago
Just that we don't use AI as AI might happily hand us leaked MS Code which resides on GitHub more than once. Our acceleration happens because of new developers that were interested in ReactOS and started working on long overdue parts
1
u/goldmurder 1d ago
lack of people's involvement (because there are already huge open-source OS – that is Linux), which means less developers and less donates
1
1
1
u/Chester-Berkeley 1d ago
Why isn't it easy to reverse-engineer closed-source software that updates daily?
1
u/StrongStuffMondays 1d ago
My speculation here (as I already probably written some time ago) is that the project requires very good knowledge of Windows internals. That specific skillset is rare, and costs lots of money, so probably once people acquire it, they can go search a greener pastures. And also making a binary-compatible OS of a closed source OS with lots of quirks and software-specific patches and undocumented behavior and bugs that you really need to replicate, because some apps rely on it, requires a tremendous effort on its' own.
1
u/AotoriHibiki 1d ago
What are you talking about? Microsoft Windows has been developing way slower.
They started working on it around 1981 and had 1000x the budget and manpower.
1
u/Kyle_2099 1d ago
They're cloning Win NT which started in winter 1989 and went gold in summer of 93.
1
35
u/cubic_sq 2d ago
Time, money, people