I like Fix8 the project. I think I do remember building it fairly easily well on Linux, but the Windows implementation is a real turn off. I looked at the instructions through Building and running on Windows on the site. Many people will not even get to that point compared to straight up downloading with QuickFix. I was able to build both the FIXimulator and C++ implementation for Windows with no hassles whatsoever. As for FIX8, I am also had a heat attack to set it up. These are the reasons why I don’t use C++ because of the complex build esp. on Linux. As a result, call me lazy but most people will probably fall in the same line as myself. The build process needs to be much easier for mass adoption. QuickFIX offers that so do I really need to continue despite these performance differences. Just saying.

http://quantlabs.net/blog/2014/04/quickfix-for-c-does-build-with-visual-studio-with-trade-client-connecting/

Demo of FIX exchange environment using QuickFIX Java open source