I recently signed up for the haiku-os.org website, the mailing list and the forums. I hope to become a Haiku developer someday. I have rather good allround skills but i will not explain them here.
I was more curious about the Haiku-Linux relation answer in the public FAQ at http://haiku-os.org/faqs.
It states that Linux is intended for experts and that it is more focused on the server-side instead of usability.
Dont get me wrong here. I am a commited Linux and FOSS user/developer but i do wish for a better explanation relating to that query.
Clarifications:
Linux itself is a kernel. It can be used for anything an operating-system is intended.
Linux-based distributions are the ones in charge of the usability and relating matters.
I can supply a rudimentary answer to how/why Haiku will/is better then Linux for the end-user:
Linux-based distributions does not have a common well-defined user-interface. (GNOME, KDE, Xfce, fluxbox, GNUstep, X11, ...)
Many distributions is forked leading to many different distributions with slight differences. Leading to, not always, vendor lock-in even for Linux users.
In other terms, since Linux-based distributions did not define a common operating-system (libs, apps, etc) in the initial up-spring in the form of a standard (which currently exist in the form of the Linux Standard Base (LSB)) then it led to alot of different userland implementations and requires more from the end-user since distributions does not focus their development into a common userland/operating-system implementation. Package managers for instance: portage, deb, rpm, source, tgz and so on.
Linux exists for a cause. It exists to give the end-users a choice. Problem is that there is too many choices in the form of distributions. This can be interpreted as good or bad, i myself find it good but that's since i am more of a "geek".
Haiku on the other hand is aimed at creating an open-source unified operating-system based on a previous well-defined UI and operating-system which gives it a common cause and a well-prepared roadmap and goals.
Anyway... i hope i did not dig too much into this subject. I just found the Q&A's relating to Linux rather confusing.
I hope to be able to contribute to this project as much as i can. Thanks for a great project with great goals. :-)
The more open source operating systems the merrier.
