React OS, Anyone?

[O)9(yo&#]

Has anyone actually gotten React to boot? I've tried three different versions, both Live and Boot CD, and it will not boot. Even got a BSOD once (hey, it's a windows clone, of course I got a BSOD).

They've been at it for 20 years, and it won't boot, and it's still in Alpha. And then they have the audacity to ask for a donation to download it. What is going on there? does this not meet the definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over, when it doesn't work? Or is there really some point to this? I've seen on their forum that it's just a matter of time, it's going to take off like wildfire. And then they tell you not to expect a Beta for at least five years. C'mon, Comrade.

[QIII]

If you would care to help the unpaid volunteers who take time from their busy lives to work on a bespoke community OS replicating the behavior of a closed-source operating system, they would probably appreciate the help. They don't have the resources of a multi-billion dollar company and aren't creating a retail product. The unpaid time they spend is money they don't have to feed their families. Those few who are employed are paid a pittance by what meager donations are made.

I have done several installations in virtual machines without problems. They may be at a stage right now where there are issues that did not exist before.

By the by, how much did the download cost you up front? They asked you for a donation to make a few pennies for their time. Hardly audacious.

[O)9(yo&#]

Well OK, all good points. Still: 20 years? You would think at some point they would decide to move on. 20 years is a big chunk of life. then again, maybe they're into Zen or something: "The journey is the destination" kind of thing. I could buy that. Otherwise, I'd have moved on to something else a long time ago. It's not like Michelangelo painting the Sistine chapel. that was worth it.

[O)9(yo&#]

As for donating, I have donated hundreds of dollars over the years to Linux projects, as well as a composers forum I sometimes frequent. the problem here is I can't even get the product up and running, in order to evaluate it. A donation makes no sense under these circumstances.

[ajgreeny]

Having seen this thread yesterday I thought I would try it out in VirtualBox.

No major problems with that; it boots in about 10 seconds to a desktop, but the problem is, of course, that there is not a lot of useful software that you can run on it.
Firefox-48 runs but do I trust such an old version? No way!

This was just an experiment for me having looked at it a long time ago, and though it is a very interesting idea I am not totally sure what it is useful for.

However, it does boot and it does run and maybe there is a use for something like this, though its security, or lack of it, that is my biggest worry.