BeOS
Ξ February 12th, 2008 | → | ∇ Blog |
For those that may not be aware, BeOS is an operating system that was developed in the early 1990’s. I mention it here because of an article I came across today : First look: Haiku poetically resurrects BeOS. In a nutshell there is a small group that has been developing open-source clone of BeOS.
The central goal of the Haiku project is to create an operating system that is ideally suited for use on the desktop—this differs significantly from Linux and other open-source operating systems which are intended for use in a diverse range of settings including server and embedded environments. The focus on desktop performance means that Haiku is designed from the ground up for optimal responsiveness.
I found this all very interesting. I’m not saying something like this would take the market by storm, but if there was ever a time in history when an OS could take the desktop market, this would be it. My reasons are as follows:
1) MS Vista is precieved as a bad Operating System and has helped MicoSoft lose some of its desktop market share. Companies and consumers are resisting moving to Vista.
2) We’re still two years away from the next version of Windows. Microsoft will lose an even greater market share.
3) The MS Office suite is less important to desktop users then it was a few years ago. This is the product that MicroSoft has really done well and has kept users tied to the Windows Operating System. Unfortunatly the price of this office suite is expensive and as a result, over the last few years, alternatives were created. Today OpenOffice offers all of the same features that MS Office offers. It’s been evolving over the last few years and it is a VERY good office suite of products today with all the same features. You can even save files that can be opened and read in the MS product line. Google also offers an office suite that they maintain. Click Here For Google Docs. Both are good alternatives to the MS Office Suite.
4) The Open Source movement is getting bigger. There are more products available under the open source license agreement then ever before.
5) MAC (Apple) is expensive.
6) Its becoming clear that Linux is not the choice of many people to use on their desktops (although its superior to most other OS’s out there). This is fine, Linux makes a great data center choice.
Again, I’m not saying that anything like this would take the market by storm, but if it were to come out, it may find a strong user community out there. Especially if commercial support were available for it.
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