[haiku-development] Re: Haiku R1/alpha decisions

Morning.

Even though the Alpha is primarily intended for developers (and should
probably be called Developer Alpha to avoid confusion), there will be a lot
of hobbyists who will like to try Haiku after hearing about it in the press.
 Even if they're fortunate enough to have 100% supported hardware, they will
stare at an empty desktop and say "OK, now what?"

BeInc (may they rest in peace) used to provide 2 interesting links on the
default desktop.  One was a link to the user guide (even yellowTab did
that).  The other was an introduction page, which also contained links to
where users can grab more software (BeBits, BeWare, and other at the time
popular sites).

The user guide is actually an opportunity for non-developers.  People will
like to know how to mount their windows/linux partitions, how to kill a
rogue application, how to change wallpaper, how to cut-copy-paste.  This is
different in Haiku compared to other OS's.

Considering that this is primarily a developer release, the pdf version of
Programming the Be Operating System from Dan Sydow might be good.  Some
sample code can also make new developers welcome.

Essentially, when a user installs Haiku, you know that they're interested
and willing to try new things.  How do we get the audience past the "OK, now
what" stage can be even more important than trying to get users to try Haiku
in the first place.

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