A first look at Haiku (alpha)

“When talking about kernel scheduling and desktop
responsiveness, it’s common to hear people in the tech community
talk fondly of BeOS, a desktop system which hails from the 1990s.
BeOS had a well-deserved reputation for providing users with a
polished desktop and smooth interaction, even when the processor
was under heavy load. Unfortunately the product was not a financial
success and BeOS largely disappeared from consumer machines. The
Haiku project attempts to pick up where BeOS left off and, though
Haiku includes very little code from BeOS, it strives to maintain
the same sort of look, feel and snappy user interface.

“I grabbed the Haiku install image, which weighs in at about 400
MB and acts both as installation media and as a live CD. Upon
booting from the CD, Haiku starts up a graphical environment and
asks if the user wishes to run the installer or move on to the live
desktop. Selecting the latter option deposits the user at a fairly
standard-looking desktop. The wallpaper is a soft sky blue and
contains the Haiku logo. In the upper-left corner are icons for
navigating the user’s (and system’s) directories. There are also
icons linking to the project’s release notes and manual. Lastly,
there’s an icon which launches the installer. Over in the
upper-right corner we find a compact combination of application
menu (represented here by a blue feather), system tray and taskbar.
By default, the system tray displays a digital clock and system
monitor. Clicking on the system monitor enables the user to manage
running processes.”

Complete
Story