Dear All,
I am no computer expert at all (I used to use windows until a few years ago, now I am enjoying Debian due to the large number of applications and to the fact that I finally spend more time working than doing system administration!),
I am intrigued by what I read on Slashdot
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/12/1431245&from=rss [1]
I am in no rush to try out Haiku (I would not even have a spare box for it right now), but I think I am missing the big picture.
Haiku is written in C++ and the idea is that it should not be pieces of software grabbed here and there but a whole coherent OS, isn't it?
I found the documentation a bit sparse, so I do not understand the technicalities. Once I install Haiku in the future, will the transition from Debian be complicated? I understood I will have bash, but what about the installation/removal of software? Will I have centralized repositories? And a package manager?
Is the installation very technical now? I heard a lot about VMware (very unknown to me), but I was not able to find a step by step tutorial.
Finally, I appreciate that it is difficult to set deadlines, but what do leader developers say? If they were to bet a month's salary, when would they predict the release of version 1.0?
If I could install Haiku easily and set up internet, then it would be much easier for me to assess Haiku (for what I want to do). Of course other people have already done that, but I suspect their knowledge of computing in general is in a different league with respect to mine!
Cheers

Larry