This is the reason I bought some MRO, I wanted to contribute by mining but don't have the resources to do so.
MRO offers quite a lot to the Crypto world and it's a shame a lot of people are against it.
gmaxwell says the ring sig tech is very good, and I have talked a lot with the MRO developers and they are very capable people and know what they are doing.
Is there any sense of when they're likely to come out with a GUI wallet and improve exchange transferability. What are their current priorities as far as development of the coin and the ecosystem around it?
Perhaps these questions would be better addressed in the MRO thread where the devs will be able to answer. Alternatively join freenode #monero or #monero-otc and ask in there.
But the short answer to the GUI question is there is still a bounty for it and also there is a sort of GUI wallet already.