Haiku OS first alpha scheduled for September 6th (opens in new tab)

I just had a chat on the #haiku channel on IRC.

I was planning to switch from Ubuntu to some lightweight OS (any other linux flavor).

This is just in its initial stages. Not many programs have been ported to work on this and it's based on the BeOS.

I asked about anything for web dev (since that's what I do), and it seems that the most they support (for webdev at the moment) is the web browser BeZilla (Firefox 2.5) or NetSurf (from BeOS). Java isn't supported yet.

Again, Haiku, as stated isn't a linux flavor, it's based on BeOS.

P.S: I have nothing against Haiku, when most programs are supported, I plan to try this out. A brand new OS with a kernel from ground up, seems like a fresh breath of air. Congrats to the Haiku team.

The more time goes by, the less I find myself tied to any one OS or desktop application. I could try out any platform with a good browser for a month, and Haiku is looking like a prime candidate. I'm too young to have used BeOS in its prime, but Haiku looks like it might be something worth testing.

Kudos to the Haiku-OS team for sticking with their project for so long. They've been working on getting this release out the door for eight years now, and I'm really looking forward to trying it out.

This brings back memories: http://beos4all.ifrance.com/eng/beos/page-beos.htm

Am I crazy for thinking that in the long run this will be a serious competitor on the desktop? Maybe I'm just a naive dreamer.

The title lies: September 9th

I really like that all the applications and windows, with the exception of the browser, don't demand your entire screen to be useful.

Dammit now I'm downloading a copy. There goes my productivity.