4 ms·

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

by bauerd 8y ago

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.

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

by bauerd 8y ago

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

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.