[openbeos] Re: Think useful, not cool

  • From: Erik Jakowatz <erik@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 05 Oct 2001 09:53:13 -0700

Think "users" rather than "customers" -- even Linux, that paragon of OSS
development, needs to think about it's usefulness to its users.  The
real conundrum to me is that it's the apps that make an OS truly
"useful" to people.  A super cool OS will, of course, ease the path to
super cool apps, but one has to convince developers that your super cool
OS is where they want to target those apps.  I thought the article
Helmar posted was quite interesting.  Clearly, somebody is going to have
to evangelize (which is merely a less "offensive" term than "market")
the OS to those developers -- and then to the end users, with all the
spiffy apps as proof that the OS will, in fact, be useful.  I mean,
let's get real:  very few of us actually us BeOS just because it is
technically very cool.  We all have tasks we wish to accomplish with our
machines, and we like the way BeOS let's us do those tasks.  Maybe it's
the overall responsiveness of the system, or the intuitive UI, or the
elegantly streamlined apps the API makes possible; whatever it is, only
the most propeller headed among us are still using BeOS *only* because
of its gee whiz technical aspects.  Personally, I want BeOS to continue
living because it is eminently useful to me.  If ever it stops being
useful, I willing to bet that the only reason it would ever get booted
would be out of a sad nostalgia for a dream that shouldn't have died. 
Would that make me a "traitor" or something?  Maybe, but I've got work
to get done and if my OS won't help me do it, there isn't much point.

Realize, I'm not suggesting that the OpenBeOS team itself should
dedicate a bunch of resources to evangelizing/marketing what we're doing
(although interested non-technical parties are welcome to take that task
on) -- indeed, I suspect that sort of thing is far from being the forte'
of most of the team members. ;)  But we should recognize the necessity
of (and even be grateful for) the folks who are looking out for that end
of the game.  Helmar & Co. are very necessary partners for (Open)BeOS's
continued success, and I'm glad that a "marketroid" (if you'll forgive
the term) of Helmar's caliber is batting for our side.

OpenBeOS is being developed under an MIT-derived license.  Daniel, this
is probably a good item for the FAQ. ;)

e

John Gabriele wrote:
> 
> --- Helmar Rudolph <helmar@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > I thought this article might interest you.
> >
> > Helmar
> >
> > Interesting and useful reading (article by Sean Carton):
> >
> >  We need to realize that the vast majority of people use
> >  technology not for what it is, but for what it does.
> >  [snip]
> >  Think useful, not cool.
> >
> 
> Happily, the OpenBeOS project is, of course, not concerned
> with "customers". Also, I personally think that cool and
> useful go hand-in-hand in what will be OpenBeOS.
> 
> Please tell me if I'm wrong here.
> 
> Btw, under what open source license will OBOS exist?
> 
> ---j
> 
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