Linked by Michael Saunders on Mon 2nd Aug 2004 18:21 UTC
Tired of endless Windows security problems? Intrigued by Linux's power but discouraged by its complexity? Tempted by Mac OS but not thrilled with the hardware cost? If so, you might want to investigate the growing bunch of hobbyist OSes -- Syllable, SkyOS, Haiku, MenuetOS, Visopsys, ReactOS and others. Syllable is perhaps the most promising of them all; it's a maturing open source desktop OS with an evolving kernel & device driver range, and is targeted at the home/small-office user.
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For instance, if you write an IRC client for Linux, chances are it'll get lost among the sea of similar apps on Freshmeat. If you write an IRC client for Syllable, though, it'll receive far more attention -- and could even become an official app...
That's undoubtedly true for most of the hobby operating systems mentioned at the beginning of the article. Amazingly, if you're a developer, developing for such a small OS could help you very much at getting your software out to people - even if it's a somewhat smaller userbase compared to Linux, Windows or even BeOS, you might reach more people than if you go for mainstream operating systems, simply because you have little to no competition.
This is definitely the case for Syllable and for SkyOS. Haiku and ReactOS have completely different goals and aim for compatibility, and I don't know the goals for MenuetOS or Visopsys, but alternative operating systems are worth at least a look.