5 ms·

Useful OS will probably never append , when you see how long it took to create Linux, thousands of people that worked on it for a very long time and still it's

by Thaxll 8y ago

Useful OS will probably never append , when you see how long it took to create Linux, thousands of people that worked on it for a very long time and still it's not on part with Windows for desktop.

Q6T46nT668w6i3m 8y ago
To be fair, most of this work, as is the case for any popular operating system, is mostly drivers. It’s entirely possible to write a succsssful operating system for a narrowly defined platform.
- waddlesplash 8y ago
  Well, Haiku reuses FreeBSD's ethernet/WiFi drivers, and we will probably wind up reusing DragonFlyBSD's DRM drivers. Most of our time in kernel development is actually spent on the kernel, not in driver development.
bauerd 8y ago
The point of OS research projects is definitely not creating Windows competitors
- Koshkin 8y ago
  Except I wouldn't call Haiku or ReactOS "research projects." Indeed, one of their goals, whether explicit or implicit, is to provide an alternative to Windows on the desktop.
  - tialaramex 8y ago
    Retro computing operating systems. There are a few of these. They're an "alternative to Windows" in the same sense that riding a penny farthing is an "alternative to travelling by bicycle" or sending a telegram is an "alternative to using the telephone". It's just nostalgia. Whether these systems could attract the same development effort (and money, though what if anything Haiku Inc. does with the money is pretty unclear since they're lousy at basic organisational responsibilities of a charity) if they admitted they aren't a serious "alternative to Windows on the desktop" is an open question.
    - waddlesplash 8y ago
      Haiku, Inc. publishes yearly financial reports detailing financial transactions: https://www.haiku-inc.org/docs/haiku_inc-financial-report-2017.pdf https://www.haiku-inc.org/docs/haiku_inc-financial-report-20... And most decisions are made in public, on the haiku-inc or haiku-sysadmin mailing lists.
      - tialaramex 8y ago
        > Haiku, Inc. publishes yearly financial reports detailing financial transactions One draft report for 2017, misfiled in the hopelessly mismanaged Haiku Inc. "website" after many years since the last one (in 2010) does not count as "yearly financial reports" and since this is a one page summary it can't be said to be "detailing financial transactions" either. Mostly decisions aren't made at all, anywhere. That financial report you're calling "yearly" took months for the Haiku Inc. board not to agree. That's right, months, not for an agreement, but for the _lack_ of any response whatsoever to be taken as tacit permission to just publish it anyway.
        waddlesplash 8y ago
        Ah yes, a board made up of 5 people who work on this in their spare time is expected to be as organized as multimillion-dollar nonprofits. /s Sarcasm aside, I don't know what decisions you're referring to which "aren't made at all, anywhere" -- the board agreed to a cost increase for server hosting earlier this year so we could switch providers. You put "website" in scare quotes, and I don't know why -- in fact they deployed a new website last week, which is much better organized than the previous one was. The point is, Haiku, Inc. is not as responsive as we'd like, indeed. But the money isn't going into a black hole, and they do pull together to get things done when we really need it.

by Thaxll 8y ago

Useful OS will probably never append , when you see how long it took to create Linux, thousands of people that worked on it for a very long time and still it's not on part with Windows for desktop.

Q6T46nT668w6i3m 8y ago

To be fair, most of this work, as is the case for any popular operating system, is mostly drivers. It’s entirely possible to write a succsssful operating system for a narrowly defined platform.

waddlesplash 8y ago
Well, Haiku reuses FreeBSD's ethernet/WiFi drivers, and we will probably wind up reusing DragonFlyBSD's DRM drivers. Most of our time in kernel development is actually spent on the kernel, not in driver development.

bauerd 8y ago

The point of OS research projects is definitely not creating Windows competitors

Koshkin 8y ago
Except I wouldn't call Haiku or ReactOS "research projects." Indeed, one of their goals, whether explicit or implicit, is to provide an alternative to Windows on the desktop.
- tialaramex 8y ago
  Retro computing operating systems. There are a few of these. They're an "alternative to Windows" in the same sense that riding a penny farthing is an "alternative to travelling by bicycle" or sending a telegram is an "alternative to using the telephone". It's just nostalgia. Whether these systems could attract the same development effort (and money, though what if anything Haiku Inc. does with the money is pretty unclear since they're lousy at basic organisational responsibilities of a charity) if they admitted they aren't a serious "alternative to Windows on the desktop" is an open question.
  - waddlesplash 8y ago
    Haiku, Inc. publishes yearly financial reports detailing financial transactions: https://www.haiku-inc.org/docs/haiku_inc-financial-report-2017.pdf https://www.haiku-inc.org/docs/haiku_inc-financial-report-20... And most decisions are made in public, on the haiku-inc or haiku-sysadmin mailing lists.
    - tialaramex 8y ago
      > Haiku, Inc. publishes yearly financial reports detailing financial transactions One draft report for 2017, misfiled in the hopelessly mismanaged Haiku Inc. "website" after many years since the last one (in 2010) does not count as "yearly financial reports" and since this is a one page summary it can't be said to be "detailing financial transactions" either. Mostly decisions aren't made at all, anywhere. That financial report you're calling "yearly" took months for the Haiku Inc. board not to agree. That's right, months, not for an agreement, but for the _lack_ of any response whatsoever to be taken as tacit permission to just publish it anyway.
      - waddlesplash 8y ago
        Ah yes, a board made up of 5 people who work on this in their spare time is expected to be as organized as multimillion-dollar nonprofits. /s Sarcasm aside, I don't know what decisions you're referring to which "aren't made at all, anywhere" -- the board agreed to a cost increase for server hosting earlier this year so we could switch providers. You put "website" in scare quotes, and I don't know why -- in fact they deployed a new website last week, which is much better organized than the previous one was. The point is, Haiku, Inc. is not as responsive as we'd like, indeed. But the money isn't going into a black hole, and they do pull together to get things done when we really need it.