We are a small TEAM, that through this survey, would like to gauge what interest there may be to fork Haiku into a new distribution; your distribution - Senryu. A positive analysis of the results would lead to the formation of a U.S based NPO (non-profit organization) that would support the distribution.
We believe that transparency, leadership and guidance through the new NPO may drive a collective level of trust and renewed interest from the community and outsiders. The following would be implemented:
- A solid set of By-Laws that governs the organization and would include:
- Organization membership with voting rights
- Annual elections to encourage accountability
- Monthly minuted Board meetings
- Quarterly fiscal reports on the organization's financial standing
- Annual Budget
- Quarterly or annual newsletters/bulletins to update members and the public on the progress of the distribution
- A focus on generating revenue through, for e.g memberships, an online store, corporate lobbying, fundraising etc
- The advancement of the OS through volunteer development & goal oriented contracts or bounties
- A focus on breaking legacy commitments (GCC2 & X86) and encouraging modern platforms and tools
- Member voted applications (either native or 3rd party) into the distribution that help to demonstrate its capabilities
- 12-18 month official distribution releases regardless of progress.
Key to the organization would be membership rights. Voting rights for things like elections and expenditures (e.g expenditures exceeding >$2000 would require >60% membership approval). These would all be voted on and described in the by-laws. It may give the community a better sense of belonging and reflect what's actually wanted by the users of the operating system.
Based on the above, a series of questions will be asked of you. Ideally, to get the ball rolling, we're looking for at least 150 members with at least 6-8 developers with various skill sets. Assuming initial memberships are paid at the minimum level ($30), the membership fundraising will be matched by the initial founder to a max. of $5000. The initial cash flow would be used to obtain build bots, the web server, domain purchases, website design, etc. plus fund 3-4 contracts to set up Senryu builds based on the wishes and instructions from the members and BOD and following distribution guidelines. From then on, the possibilities are endless.
Note* We aren't expecting much from the survey, as the BeOS/Haiku community has really dwindled in the past couple of years - that said, surprises are always good, and someone had to try it!
If you are unsatisfied with the way Haiku Inc. is run, you want to see changes to the Haiku Operating System in a new distribution, or you're just plain open to the idea that more competition is better and spurs innovation - now may be your best/only chance to make that difference! Continue to survey...