[NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

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wildschwein
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by wildschwein »

Yes, PR and donation are TWO different things, which BOTH should be done !

PR gets money from companies, and i am sure a lot of (small) companies are willing to spend some x thousend euros or more, thats not much for a company. I think they would be really astonished how much software already works, and perhaps a personal Reactos demonstration by some devs who also present the whole reactos project would convince them.

What about to send a letter with a test CD to some (small) elected receptivly companies - and the invitation to a oral presentation in the companys presentation room ?

What about russian companies ? Indian companies with an office in europe ?

ReactOS need only a small feet in the company door - the rest comes of its own !
DOSGuy
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by DOSGuy »

I'm ready to press businesses for their support, but which businesses should we be targeting? Probably not Microsoft, right? So who stands to benefit from a free alternative to Windows, other than Google (who has already supported the project through GSOC)?

This isn't as a simple a question as it may sound. The knee jerk reaction is, "every business that uses Windows would benefit from a free alternative!". The problem with that logic is that price isn't the only consideration for most businesses. I work for the government. Why do we use Microsoft products instead of free alternatives? Because we have a service contract with Microsoft. Support is important to businesses. If they have problems with a paid program, they get support from the developer, who is paid to help them. When you use free software, you're on your own, or left asking for help from other users in their forum.

No one should be under any illusions that a perfectly Windows-compatible ReactOS is going to be adopted by businesses and deployed in anyone's workplace. There are probably going to be two primary users of ReactOS: nerds, and possibly embedded applications (set-top boxes, ATMs, cash registers, etc.) if ReactOS can achieve rock solid stability. Google and Apple might be willing to throw us some support to stick it to Microsoft, but I can't think of very many businesses off the top of my head that would be interested in supporting ReactOS.

But that's just my head. So, I throw open the floor to everyone else. What businesses do you think we should target for support?
Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article. Get free BeOS, DOS, OS/2, and Windows games at RGB Classic Games.
DOSGuy
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by DOSGuy »

BTW, I certainly do envision small businesses adopting ReactOS as a way to save money, particularly tech-savvy businesses like computer stores. It's the large corporations (which also have the most money to donate) that I don't see adopting ReactOS, or any other operating system that doesn't come up with premium support, no matter how Windows-like it is.
Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article. Get free BeOS, DOS, OS/2, and Windows games at RGB Classic Games.
Murmur
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by Murmur »

DOSGuy wrote:I'm ready to press businesses for their support, but which businesses should we be targeting? Probably not Microsoft, right? So who stands to benefit from a free alternative to Windows, other than Google (who has already supported the project through GSOC)?
...
But that's just my head. So, I throw open the floor to everyone else. What businesses do you think we should target for support?
I completely agree. We can't just go knocking at all the big vendors yet asking for handouts because large companies care about uptime and using a product with little or no support is not a wise move for them. In the long run in order to keep ROS a float will to develop its own support center for fixing ROS issues (but this is long in the future)

Right now the target market should be..

- Small businesses that don't want to pay for licenses for multiple computers when they can get free alternative that works good.
- Studios that develop programs solely on windows
- Companies that sell cheap computers like gateway which would like a windows based OS that is free (saving them more money)
- College / University that do technical studies
Witch
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by Witch »

DOSGuy wrote: ...
...

Google and Apple might be willing to throw us some support to stick it to Microsoft, but I can't think of very many businesses off the top of my head that would be interested in supporting ReactOS.

But that's just my head. So, I throw open the floor to everyone else. What businesses do you think we should target for support?
I made a list for my own amusement a few years ago, it's a bad list with little logic yet it's a list that can be improved on by others. :) I didn't know what to do with it and moved on to other tasks instead.
http://www.reactos.org/wiki/User:Witch# ... onors_List
DOSGuy
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by DOSGuy »

The more I think about it, the more it seems like a good idea to approach Apple. While Apple's official stance will always be that Mac users don't need Windows, Boot Camp is a silent acknowledgement that there are people who need to run Windows on their Macs.

Boot Camp effectively encourages Mac owners to go out and buy a copy of Windows for $130+ from their competitor, Microsoft. Although people running Windows on their Macs doesn't take any sales from Apple, it generates revenue for a competitor, which can only be bad for Apple in the long run. But what if Apple included a copy of ReactOS with Boot Camp? "So, you need to install Windows for some reason? Here's a free copy of Windows!" It steals a sale from Microsoft, and how good does this sound: "Microsoft wants you to pay $130 for a copy of Windows. For $29.99 we'll give you a copy of Mac OS X and a copy of Windows*. *ReactOS".

Apple has about $76 billion sitting around for interesting projects. We supposedly only need $1 million. It just seems like a natural fit.
Last edited by DOSGuy on Mon Sep 26, 2011 11:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article. Get free BeOS, DOS, OS/2, and Windows games at RGB Classic Games.
DOSGuy
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by DOSGuy »

Okay, here's a thought. What do people use ReactOS for? I'm sure there are plenty of people who want it to run office suites, applications, utilities, programming languages, etc. But what are computers really for? Games!

GOG.com sells classic DOS and Windows games. The DOS games are pre-installed in a copy of DOSBox to make them playable on modern computers. As for the Windows games, if you don't have a copy of Windows, you're out of luck. What if they could offer games pre-installed in a copy of ReactOS, pre-installed in a VHD/VMDK/IMG/etc disk image for your favorite virtualization suite/emulator? By the way, I'm a GOG affiliate, so if you click this link before buying something there, I get a commission. Which leads to my next suggestion.

Play up ReactOS's role as a gaming platform

Add a Gaming link to the navigation menu and add information for gamers, like a compatibility list of games that work well in ReactOS. Have a section that says, "Need games for your ReactOS rig? Try GOG!". ReactOS becomes a GOG affiliate, put ROS' affiliate ID in the link and the project gets money every time someone buys a game to play in ReactOS.

GOG is just the beginning. Think about all of the gaming companies that still only make Windows versions of their games. What if their websites all had a link that said "Linux/Mac OS X user? Sorry, we don't make a version of this game for your platform yet, but here's a free copy of ReactOS that you can run in your favorite virtualization suite/emulator!" Even better, they include a copy of ReactOS pre-installed on a VHD/VMDK/IMG/etc on the installation disc of every Windows game they sell. "Free copy of ReactOS (a Windows-compatible OS) inside!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vi ... developers <-- There you go. There's 300+ companies that would potentially be interested in supporting a free alternative to Windows.
Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article. Get free BeOS, DOS, OS/2, and Windows games at RGB Classic Games.
Murmur
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by Murmur »

DOSGuy wrote:Okay, here's a thought. What do people use ReactOS for? I'm sure there are plenty of people who want it to run office suites, applications, utilities, programming languages, etc. But what are computers really for? Games!
I think we should cross that road when we have directx (or what ever we are calling it) working. The gaming community is very performance based, if ROS does not preform then why would they pick ROS over win7? (These guys don't care about spending a few $ for performance be it a new video card or OS)

vicmarcal wrote:We are on it ;)...Gimme 48hours to React the OS
Interested to see what he has done.
vicmarcal
Test Team
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by vicmarcal »

i am on it.I am on it.
Gimme 12 hours more. :)
DOSGuy
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by DOSGuy »

Murmur wrote:I think we should cross that road when we have directx (or what ever we are calling it) working. The gaming community is very performance based, if ROS does not preform then why would they pick ROS over win7? (These guys don't care about spending a few $ for performance be it a new video card or OS)
I don't really think that hardcore gamers are our target audience. Even once ReactOS will reliably install on real computers, I don't see very many people choosing ReactOS over Win7 in the short term. I think our target audience will be geeks who want to build a cheap computer -- often a second or third computer -- and put a free Windows-like OS on it just for the challenge. You know, "I built an entire computer with a Windows-like OS for $200!". No doubt, the majority of ROS users will run the OS in a virtual machine, in which case there's nothing stopping them from using both ROS and Windows 7. As strange as this may sound, I don't think ROS is actually competing with Windows 7. Since it's free, anyone who would pay for Windows 7 will have nothing to lose by also giving ROS a try and seeing how much they can do with it without having to switch by to Win7. If it ever gets to a point that they feel like they can do everything they need to with ROS, they might use it exclusively, but it doesn't matter to us if they use ROS and Windows.

But yes, gaming on ReactOS will be an easier sell when it can do DirectX as well as Windows.
Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article. Get free BeOS, DOS, OS/2, and Windows games at RGB Classic Games.
mrugiero
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by mrugiero »

Witch wrote:Yes that is true word of mouth marketing is the strongest PR tool there is available. But my point with the excessively long post above :) is this:
  1. ReactOS members NEEDS a specific "Unofficial PR Talks" folder in this forum to streamline discussions.
  2. Through debates and discussion in that particular forum folder, we can SHAPE practical strategies for everybody to follow.
  3. When everybody knows exactly which strategies they will be executing on command by Fireball. Then the PR effect will be able to skyrocket and keep an orbital path on its own without any human intervention thereafter.
Oh, right, I misunderstood. I agree :)
pbreneman
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by pbreneman »

Witch wrote:
...
I made a list for my own amusement a few years ago, it's a bad list with little logic yet it's a list that can be improved on by others. :) I didn't know what to do with it and moved on to other tasks instead.
http://www.reactos.org/wiki/User:Witch# ... onors_List
Nice to see you have DMP Electronics on your "hot" list. If you've read the "ReactOS on eBox and embedded systems" thread in this forum section you'll see that I have a live cd running on one of their systems.
http://www.reactos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9567

I can use their system (for protocol converters for example) with ReactOS if I'm able to get just 2 serial ports and a console program working reliably. I hope that won't be too difficult. :)

I think that simple embedded systems (and some education projects) are a good place to get ReactOS into real use. I have started one such educational project here (and hope to add ReactOS links once I get the eBox basic support working):
http://www.turbocontrol.com/monitor.htm
wildschwein
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by wildschwein »

Just some ideas more:

Big companies are the LAST that would use ReactOS widespread ! Look at linux, in the long end some companies adapted it, but not to early. SUPPORT and STABILITY are so import for big companies, they never risk ANYTHING.

But however perhaps are inspite of this some big company may see these things also "long-term" and are willing to "spend" some money and give ReactOS a chance.

But better adresses may be small and creative companies, that wants to be at the "puls of the time".
They want perhaps surf with the "ultra big Monster Reactos Wave" that rolls through the internet community when ReactOS "gets ingnition" - means has reached a level that more and more people want to use it (perhaps first on "second PCs" that sleeps now in some cellars, because they are to old, to use with windows, or in emulator)

What about "Thomas Krenn" that spended money for a new server ?
Perhaps they are interested in a cooperation ?

What about to work with some organisations, that ships old PCs to third world countries ?
Murmur
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by Murmur »

wildschwein wrote:Just some ideas more:

Big companies are the LAST that would use ReactOS widespread ! Look at linux, in the long end some companies adapted it, but not to early. SUPPORT and STABILITY are so import for big companies, they never risk ANYTHING.

But however perhaps are inspite of this some big company may see these things also "long-term" and are willing to "spend" some money and give ReactOS a chance.

But better adresses may be small and creative companies, that wants to be at the "puls of the time".
They want perhaps surf with the "ultra big Monster Reactos Wave" that rolls through the internet community when ReactOS "gets ingnition" - means has reached a level that more and more people want to use it (perhaps first on "second PCs" that sleeps now in some cellars, because they are to old, to use with windows, or in emulator)

What about to work with some organisations, that ships old PCs to third world countries ?
this exactly what I said a few posts ago...

http://www.reactos.org/forum/viewtopic. ... 016#p82973
Witch
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Re: [NewIdea]A new way to push ReactOS Development [NewIdea]

Post by Witch »

This is exactly why ReactOS NEEDS to create a specific "Unofficial PR Talks" folder on the forum to enable regular ROS members to streamline their discussions in separate threads!

When 10 people with 10 different ideas discuss in the same thread then too many good ideas melt like ice cream under the sun and never materializes. :(
Doing this in "Off Topic" and "General Discussions" folder also makes the ice creams (ideas) melt too quickly.
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