Am I taking the right steps to using the HAIKU OS for a company

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I am working on starting a computer company and I am look for a free and open sources OS to use to install and use for the computers that are build. The HAIKU OS is the first one that i am looking in to using. The name of the new of the company would be Keweenaw Peninsula Computer Company. I would like to hire a small team of programs to help finish HAIKU for it is ready for general use. The name, logos and trade marks of HAIKU are used no were else except for OS on the computer which we would be selling. From what I understate that is acceptable use since it would not be used any were else example the companies I have sent a letter
To: Haiku, Inc.
c/o Mr. Ryan Leavengood
3917 Coelebs Ave.
Boynton Beach, FL 33436-2706

To try to get permission to do this is this the right step.

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Hi Philip!

As far as i can remember, you asked the same question some time ago (years?). Can i ask, what was the show-stopper at that time?

Thanks and welcome!

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I do not recall asking this in this chat site. I know I said something about it on FaceBook awhile back ago. What happened live happened lol

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please mantain us update with how is going your project.

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Haiku is an open source project using the MIT license. It’s free to compile, use, and even to respin a flavor, distribution, fork, etc. of. What one can’t do is use the Haiku name, marks, or logo(s), and the guidelines do say to “think long and hard before doing so” (that is, before creating a distribution).

That said, I’m writing all this because I’ve read all that and I started and am quietly working on what afaik is the only active unofficial distribution (Poem: Soliloquy) after Senryu sadly went out. It is a lot of work and not something I’d suggest to anyone without being willing to put a lot of hours into it. You will need to at minimum be able to read C++ to add things to, improve, and also make basic changes to the system; if you’re new to Haiku, don’t expect something trivial like branched XML (property lists) or similar in here. And not everything is C++ either; it’s a mix. That’s the first thing you’ll really need to know. As for logos, the unofficial switch should be enabled by default. But you may want to double check when compiling. That’ll turn off most of the Haiku artwork. But to delve in deeper in this respect, you’ll also need to translate icon resources (exporting with Icon-o-Matic and the Terminal can help here; can’t recall the attribute commands at the moment) and also a good hex viewer will be handy. Unlike for instance, Gnome, icons are not stored as images in the conventional sense. The boot splash also will need to be generated using Haiku’s tools; again, to offer a popular example in comparison, it isn’t like Plymouth. Overall, Haiku is awesome, but needs love and patience.

As for usability, what makes Haiku one of my favorites is the Mac-like ease of use. The two in this respect seem like cousins. Internally, the design, speed, and power of Haiku is also incredible – though the users will not really understand the ‘why’ to its power, which I won’t detail here. But as attractive and wonderful as it is, there are areas you should be aware of.

Web+ is great, but it still has its bugs and areas users will have trouble. Users will care about that, even if nothing else worked. That’s why Chrome devices as one applicable example sell so well in this age. Also, be aware the webcam, sound input, and other areas still need a lot of work – and that being just the basic stuff consumers will want to use nowadays. And there’s more that can be found in the bug tracker.

Much as I appreciate the legacy of BeOS and Haiku, it would be hard at this point to market and sell it like Mac OS on your own hardware; imho, the better solution would be to tie Haiku to a VM, hypervisor, or compatibility layer on BSD or Linux and have users have the choice when they buy your systems. That’s just my opinion and my advice to help you in your quest.

On behalf of the Haiku community, I wish you luck and success in your endeavors and hope this was helpful to you.

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I think you can make and sell mini PC’s or netbooks with installed regular Haiku. No need for new distribution, may be you can add some own logo? It is possible to find hardware that Haiku fully supports. Only with Haiku you can achieve very good system price and productivity ratio.I think some people who wants try some new and fast OS will be interested in it. Also you can support some software development or driver writing if you want to, and add some proprietary software.
What haiku now needs mostly is good web browser, and this with new qt port is actually possible.

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haiku just need, to me 3d drivers, and stability in some programs as webpositive, but seems almost complete.

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Have you thought about providing Elementary OS until Haiku’s web browser is stable?

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I do not plan to use the the Haiku name, marks, or logos in the name of the company or distribution ? I have thought about doing something like this for over two years.

The big Q let alone the company will not use the name Haiku. The OS its self will be Haiku. so I suppose it would ok to say that in any business document or ad that the OS is Haiku ?

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I have so much good Info given to me. I will have to take sometime within the next couple of days to go over it all thanks so much…

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That is a great idea. So the Q I have is the term they use “new distribution” means if you great a hole new version of Haiku OS not just try to get the bugs out of the existing Haiku OS.

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I do not plan to use the the Haiku name, marks, or logos in the name of the company or distribution ?

I wasn’t saying you were going to use the Haiku logo, name, etc. – I was clarifying and condensing all the main points from the guidelines for anyone now or in the future who might search for this topic.

That said, once again, the code for Haiku (OS) is open and freely redistributable, as long as anyone wanting to work with it follows the open license and proper credit is given to the authors in the source.

So the Q I have is the term they use “new distribution” means if you great a hole new version of Haiku not just try to get the bugs out of the existing Haiku.

It all depends. If you are interested in fixing bugs, etc. maybe consider joining the Haiku team. This would be the best way to contribute if you know where the bugs are at and how to fix them. From there, I should maybe think you will be able to get permission to put the official Haiku with the fixes on your custom computers. But I’m not Haiku, Inc. and can’t speak for them, so please be aware of that. I’m just another guy on the Haiku forum.

The big Q let alone the company will not use the name Haiku. The OS its self will be Haiku. so I suppose it would ok to say that in any business document or ad that the OS is Haiku ?

From what I gather, it appears you want to make changes and apply patches solo, while still calling the system Haiku.

If you don’t want to become a Haiku project developer and plan to fix bugs on your own or with an outside team (i.e. independently), and want to market that, even if you don’t change the look, feel, etc. of the Haiku, you are still creating an unofficial distribution, and in that case, will simply need to follow the distribution guidelines – which are very easy and reasonable. Yes, you’re using Haiku from Haiku, and yes, your work will be on 100% Haiku software, but if you’re planning to make changes to the system, you will need to do it the right way.

Haiku is free, open source software and you’re welcome to make changes to it at any time and publish your new, modified version around the world – as long as the distribution guidelines are followed. In other words, you don’t need permission to start a modified or derivative work of the system, or publish or sell it, so long as you do not use the name Haiku on it. In other words, you can’t call the new system “enhanced Haiku” or “Autumn Haiku” or “LibreHaiku”, etc. It’d have to be different, like for instance, “Sonnet”. From there, you could say it is a modified version of Haiku, distribution of Haiku, enhanced version of Haiku, or whatever. Please understand the guidelines are just to shield the main project, so people around the Web/world won’t get anyone else’s code confused with the official code from the main project.

Other possibilities…?

All this said, overall, since Haiku has a way to go to reach Version 1, I agree with the previous suggestion from dwt – why not use something like Elementary OS until Haiku reaches that point? You could even install Wine and allow your customers to run basic Windows programs on it. Or why not follow another (my) earlier suggestion and start a BSD or Gnu/Linux powered system with Haiku inside it?

But in the end, it is all up to you. It’s your dream, your company, your system, and I’ve said all I can say to help out, including giving tips on how to go about making a distribution if you want to do so. That said, there’s nothing more I can really help you with or say regarding this.

I wish you the best of luck with it all and success to you.

Note: Edited for readability and added quotes I was replying to…

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Yes I will the next step for me is to make PC to test the HAIKU

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Can you post your tests online, like this one: http://besly.de/menu/search/archiv/artikel/chaotic_hardwaretests.html based on the hardware tests of Chaotic.

Chaotic test many hardware the last years on hin blog: http://aspeers.blogspot.de/

We create a little hardware compatibility list using this tests and it would be fine to get more data for it: http://besly.de/menu/search/archiv/misc/haiku-hardware_compatibility_list.html

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