If you're still trying to figure it out, this is what "The DAO" is, in programming code. No more, no less. Money in, wonderful things out. :) It will seem like magic to most.
https://etherscan.io/address/0xbb9bc244d798123fde783fcc1c72d...
3 karma · joined January 20, 2015
https://etherscan.io/address/0xbb9bc244d798123fde783fcc1c72d...
As far as I know, Rootstock is still just a whitepaper. So this is just a promise to be compatible. Nothing exists yet, it's vaporware at this point.