I would have to disagree with the âpackage managerâ part of this. I think people nowadays generally understand what packages are in 2016; this isnât 1997. Android uses APKs alongside the Play Store, and the Anniversary Update for Windows 10 will include an Ubuntu core image courtesy of Canonical - and with it, preliminary package support that the CIT/IS sort who will use said features will be familiar with. OS X (macOS now) has the Mac App Store, but developers are divided on whether to use it (http://www.leafandcore.com/?p=16292), mainly because the Mac has used stand-alone packages since 10.0 publicly. Rather, it is the App Store on iOS that has exploded and flourished, (mainly because iOS is a tightly integrated platform locked to Apple mobile hardware.) OpenSolaris and OpenIndiana use packages, as does Minix and some flavors of BSD. Several Gnu/Linux-based operating systems have excellent package managers (rpm/yum, and now dnf, is one), and with more flavors focused around app titles (think Gnome Software), itâs clear the direction that operating systems are taking and it is currently toward a centralized package manager or store; (although, imho, I truly believe containers or even a modular system might just be the next phase of things. I could be wrong.) Even though Iâm uncomfortable about the Depot idea myself, I do see that it makes sense, and is necessary for Haiku to move forward to beta 1 and reach a larger audience.
As for âeasy to accessâ or ease of use, though I discovered Haiku back at alpha 2, have a copy of BeOS R5, and run âDanoâ on an old HP - I will humbly admit my personal favorite is the Mac. In fact, it was the UIâs closeness to Platinum and its simplicity that made me fall in love with it. Under that gorgeous simplicity, though, was power, and I would pine for that to be pulled away simply because 90% of âusersâ donât care to understand how to âconfigureâ something. That isnât to say anyoneâs copy of publicly available software should be deliberately exclusive to developers, either. Good software should be universal, and Free Software (as in free speech) is about empowering people to do more⌠but this idea means the newcomers will need to put forth at least a little effort to learn how it works and better themselves. When an interface marries the concept of beauty and power together, something like the earlier Mac OS X versions (10.1-10.6) is very possible. Today, this idea of a balance between power and simplicity is going away. In Gnu/Linux right now, a power struggle for systemd is taking place, Windows locked from inside out long ago, and now the Mac has partially locked itself already with SIP/rootless, and most of the user-base doesnât even âgetâ what the long-term impact of it is (btw, if you have a Mac, restart into the recovery HD and turn it off). That said, I fully agree with ease of access, as long as Haiku doesnât go the path of Redmond.
This is a compliment, actually, as the mission of Haiku is to preserve not only the functionality, but also the look and feel of the classic BeOS and take it forward. It isnât redundant or awkward; it is keeping history alive with each time it boots up to that look and feel. That said, I know the Be-like UI isnât Aqua, but this is part of what Haiku is about - and there are decorators one can compile and use with Appearance preferences, or even modify a theme to their taste. I think for those that want Haiku to look like Google Aura, Gnome 3, Plasma 5, etc. it is totally understandable, but I would ask them to remember why Haiku has kept to the Be look⌠or if all else fails, to make your own fork or a new spin, which brings me to the very last pointâŚ
Sigh. As for an official re-spin, like how Mint and Fedora have spins with different DEs, scientific tools, etc. - sure. Thatâd be fairly simple. But, taking a copy of an OS project and trying to maintain it as one person is not simple as it may appear. I had this itch to fork Haiku and optimize it for netbooks since 2010 (around when netbooks were still booming), and finally tried last year. It was called Poem; it ended in me splitting it in two editions, and I finally gave up and quit the project. Whether Iâll ever start back up again, I donât know; I actually loved Poem and it was hard to quit on it.
All this said, I wrote this lengthy essay of a post not to be annoying, but because I noticed that you and I have similar ideas, such as a Deskbar alternative and the idea Haiku should focus toward smaller machines. But I also wanted to mention all this to say that Haiku is a great system, and there is a positive side to all the suggestions mentioned so far. 