[haiku] Re: Who is Haiku for?

-- Nicholas Blachford, on Sun, 8 Nov 2009 22:41:42 +0000:
> Some systems can be very elitist and some are downright hostile  
> towards casual users.  I never found this was the case with BeOS and 
> I  
> hope this is also true with Haiku.

Hey, I saw you running Haiku at BG19, so you should know that. :)

> *By casual users I mean non-computer enthusiasts.
> 
> 
> So, who is Haiku for?
> 
> 1) Casual users
> 2) Geeks
> 3) Both
> 
> I'd like 3, what do you think?

Well, Nick, if you make me choose, I'd go for 3 as well. :)


I wonder however, if "geeks" really have demands that go against the 
ones of "casuals".
Geeks will, too, appreciate an easy to use GUI that doesn't get in 
their way. They may use some advanced (as in hidden therefore non-
disruptive) features and shortcuts, but as long as there's an 
unobtrusive but obvious way for casuals, it's OK. One geeky icon, for 
example, the shell, exists without impacting the casual user one bit. 
Things that ATM depend on the shell (e.g. casual managing of indexes 
could easily be put into FileTypes or their own prefs. Though you might 
say dealing with the index is geeky itself and sane defaults relief the 
casuals of that burden).

Maybe we need examples to illustrate the (perceived) conflict... I have 
none.

IMO it all boils down to (3rd party) software. No video geeks without 
powerful video editor, no photo geeks without 1st class imaging tools, 
no gamers without games.
There are the related hardware driver issues, and of course the limited 
man power, but as long as Haiku tries its best to provide the 
frameworks needed for sophisticated software features (e.g. in the 
interface_kit) what is keeping anyone from creating either a network-
analyzing geektool or a dead-simple music archiving jukebox? Oh, I 
know: time, job, a life and all that... :)

Regards,
Humdinger


PS: I do like that you bring these topics up. They are important to 
ponder every once in a while. Please do continue.

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