[haiku-development] Re: Handling ABI changes with packages buildbots
- From: Josh Wright <joshwrightthepongo@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: haiku-development@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2017 07:22:15 +0100
On 8 Oct 2017, at 06:18, Leon Taylor (Redacted sender "leon.t81" for DMARC)
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I think that another problem is that people see Haiku as a Linux distro and
expect it to work like a Linux distro. Many people don't know that Haiku is a
small, independent OS and get very disappointed when they try it out and it
isn't what they expect it to be.
So, what *is* it, and who is your target audience? :-) The FAQ on the main site
does answer some very specific technical questions, but there’s no “Why Haiku?”
page, which could be helpful for new arrivals to the site who are not
tech-savvy.
If you’re aiming it at the home user desktop market, what are your USPs that
set you apart from others? I’m guessing:
Price: Haiku will be £free to purchase?
Flexibility: Runs on low-cost x64 hardware...
Stability: Modern kernel
Security: Unencumbered by malware
So, this could see take-up from the student and younger user community. Adding
the ability to learn programming (BeIDE, Python, etc.) could then cement it as
a classroom tool, which could see it then move into the home as users will want
to use the same product at home as at school.
This brings with it certain necessities though: a browser that supports HTML5,
a platform that supports multiple users and parental controls, an email client,
access to musical.ly...
All I mean by this is that Haiku is a wonderful product but it’s now seeking a
way into a world that isn’t tech-savvy and therefore has expectations. Is it
therefore worth reversing the position, determining your initial market, and
making sure Haiku meets the criteria expected by that market? Your release
roadmap then writes itself. :-)
For example: if you say your initial market is as a rock-solid web server then
all you need for Haiku R1 is the o/s and a web server. :) You might need to
decide how/if you want to make money from it, and what your ongoing end-user
support model is.
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