I just got done testing out a disk image of HaikuOS that was built yesterday morning. In case anyone needs a link to where I got it, I downloaded the disk image here. Ok, so a very fair question that I'm sure some of the semi-/non-geeks in the audience will have, why should y'all care? The answer is really simple. HaikuOS is an open source reimplementation of BeOS, an operating system that was far, far ahead of the competition. It was to MacOS what MacOS was to Windows if that gives you any indication of how amazing cool it was. Imagine an operating system that was futuristic, light-weight, had a great GUI, could run as fast on a PII 450 as Windows does on a P4 and that had the "it just works" goodness of MacOS.

And it ran on PC hardware. I kid you not, fair readers, as I have personally witnessed all of the above from my times using BeOS R4, R4.5 and R5 before Be went bankrupt and sold its IP to Palm, who ended up wasting it. I would probably never have a good reason to buy another Mac if and when HaikuOS reaches a full, stable release and can run natively on my hardware.

So, what can you do with this disk image? Not much, as far as desktops go right now. Remember, this is a development build that is not supposed to be used by casual users. However, I am in the process of packaging up a VMWare download for anyone who wants to use VMWare Player to test it out. And of course, why should you care about it, as far as your computer goes? Really simple, actually. Linux is too bulky and complex for most users, and MacOS X requires special hardware. If you want choice, and the chance to have an OS that really works, support HaikuOS. The majority of the basic infrastructure is now in place, and progress has really been picking up over the last six months. In another six months to a year, it is very likely that they will have a usable beta out for testing. So, go to their website and make a $5-$10 donation every so often to help them get the funds needed to keep things chugging along. (I have already given them about $15 and plan to send them another $15 at the end of the month or so)

***Update***
For a good review of HaikuOS, check this out.