Amahi’s popularity?

[Wilhelm]

I am relatively new to Amahi and must say that I am very impressed with it and the applications that come with it. It is easy to set up, use and is user friendly (especially for the demanding wife that does not want to learn anything.. lol).

But here is my question: If Amahi is so good, why is it not more popular?

I based my popularity rating on the amount of info on the web (not the Amahi website). There are almost no YouTube videos, general reviews or references on the web. It was only by accident that I came access it when I was looking how to build a home server myself. Hence the question, if I like it so much (and I am a demanding user) why is it not more popular? Now, I am not trying to inflame anyone that had put in a lot of their own effort and private time into it. I would just like to start a debate and maybe better understand the Amahi community.

A bit of background on me: I have been using FOSS software and Linux in particular since 2007 in my profession and now have a clear understanding of the issues for professional and private use. I have over 20 years IT experience as a consultant in mainly IBM products. My home laptop runs Ubuntu and this was my first introduction to home FOSS (back in version 7.04).

For the purpose of this debate, I would consider myself the perfect target audience for Amahi. Family of 4 with Win (for work), Mac & Linux laptops and lots of mobile phones & other devices (the kids are well stocked). Don’t really have time to struggle with stuff at home, but have enough curiosity to want to try new technology for the home.

So how was my experience with Amahi? The install was easy with a very nice set of instructions and even screen prints, so I could do it. After the install it was like having a new operating system on the PC, it works but could not do a thing. But now worries, I started to read about all the software I could install and here I encountered my first problem. What software should I install? For every functionality I require, there were multiple choices.

To give you an example: I was thinking of a home bulletin board where we could save information that we would regularly need. What about a Wiki? Problem: There was something like XXX Wiki programs in the Amahi repository. Which one to choose. I tried 2, found it too complicated for the wife to use, now I have none.

Photo Album: Had to try 2, settled on Gallery. Gallery3 proved I made the correct choice.
Music: Got really confused with software and formats. Settled on AmahiTunes & Squeezebox with music format ogg (found Linux program abcde to convert CDs to ogg). It seems to work OK so fare.
And the list goes on. Sometimes I nearly gave up.

Now compare this to my (latest) Ubuntu experience: I put the CD in. Follow a few instructions that I clearly understood. Pressed a few buttons and I have a working system. I can just do stuff. It is even better than Windows as Win 7 in only a fancy operating system, still can’t do anything, no software.

That set me thinking: What does Ubuntu (and some other projects) do correctly that makes it so popular? And what is so many of the other FOSS distros and projects doing wrong that they do not get popular? I think the answer is FOCUS. Ubuntu has a philosophy or focus: A system for the general user (someone like me).

Lots of other distros always tell you how much software they have in their repositories. That does not help me. I just need one programs to do something, I don’t really need 10 different programs to try and solve one problem. I understand that now you will scream: What about choice!!! Different people will have different requirements and therefore only different programs can solve it, and I agree.

So how do you solve the focus versus choice problem? This is what I believe should be up for debate in this thread and why I am posting this. What is Amahi focus on achieving (why does this project exist) and how can it better deliver it with choice. The main slogan was what got my attention: Powerful, Simple, Home Networking. Unleash the power of your home network.

Once this if solved I believe Amahi will become popular and even mainstream. Why mainstream? Because there in not really a rival for it. I searched for it.

Here is my idea for it:
Why not have a list of target markets in the Amahi Wiki and then a proposed solution of programs and advice that would suit that target market’s requirements. The Amahi community can even vote for the programs that would best fit a target market. Plus, if every Amahi user associated itself with a target market, stats can be collected to support or enhance the solution.

The secret to this will be how well a target market is described. Target markets can also be defined by a set of programs that work well together.

OK, this is my question/idea. Please accept that I wrote this not to offend anyone, but rather to further the Amahi cause.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to the responses.

Wilhelm

[cpg]

Good thoughts! And nicely put!

If Amahi is so good, why is it not more popular?

Ubuntu has a millionaire behind it who put ubuntu on the map by giving away millions of CDs with ubuntu inside.

That is not sufficient, though. They put a lot of work in making a very good product. That also requires significant investment, which they did.

Next: thanks for the kind words. We will be making some effort in marketing Amahi over time, and we need your help to share it with friends & co-workers!

Amahi is made to be "set it and forget it" ... simple to install (getting there - not quite there) and then it's just running in the background. Maybe that's why it's not more front and center in people's minds? Maybe we need to make it more so?

We definitely need to make the apps more easy to discover and rate! We are working on that as we work on a web site makeover to help in that area. All that takes effort, and we will get there.

Help us get there by sharing amahi in other forums, in facebook and other social networks!

Thanks for your feedback!

[nuclear216]

If might add my two cent I'm baffled too that Amahi is not more popular and widespread as it is a very nice distro and it is doing something very unique.
i guess there is a set of problem related to amahi itself what it does and what it might do, and there is another set of problem about "marketing".

when it comes to the technical stuff, amahi itself, I think it's the developer choices that matter and personally I think they are doing a great job, amahi is doing everything I need and truly is a "set and forget" experience for me.

Now when it comes to the marketing stuff I know there is ongoing work to remake amahi.org website, and this could help as I think things can be improved there, also I think cpg is 100% right in asking us user to Help us get there by sharing amahi in other forums, in facebook and other social networks!, but there are more fundamental question IMO:

What really is the plan for amahi "marketing", and I don't mean this in a business way, I mean this in understanding what really the amahi community does with it and acting accordingly, setting a target to maybe expand some kind of userbase or another, who really is in charge of this?

About this latter question has there ever been a complete "survey" of amahi use? maybe just a poll for the user with a running system?
I mean I use amahi as a home fileserver for my xbox in the living room, my two house computer, friends computer that hook up temporary via WIFI (I have an access point, a router and a switch), share internet connection with all the device on the LAN and torrent.
For that I use ampache, dlna, torrentflux-b4rt and for this particular kind of use it's really been the "set and forget" experience, if there were survey or polls of amahi community and result would say that this or anyother number of user profiles are diffused that would be a formidable information to plan amahi development and "marketing" on, sort of a feedback.
Just statistics about app installed on running system would be useful, is this information available somewhere? I have seen only one poll in the roadmap section and 8 people voted and were interested in SOHO.

I'm also sure that my personal case is not the general way people use or might use amahi, I surfed a bit the roadmap section and this looks like the closest thing:

http://forums.amahi.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=868

Dear forum members,

Based on serveral posts in this forum and in the feature request forum this post will give a preliminarily list of new features and changes for Amahi version 6.

This list is based on technical plausibilities, as well as 'requests' done by users.

please take notice of the fact that this is a proposal and NOT the actual roadmap...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[new features]
Amahi 6 will be based on FC12 and Rhell 6 giving us the opportunity to spend more time for features and less on porting to a new version
Amahi Core will be changed to a modular setup, creating support for integrated add-ons, like: mail servers, media servers, small busyness servers and other server roles.
Amahi 6 will be integrating the ongoing efforts of the Amahi-team to make your home server safer, faster and more user friendly.
Lib Pam Auth will give us new opportunities to manage users, user-permissions and options that you would usually find in commercial servers only.
New ways of support will be added to backup and restore your server as well as your workstations. Clonezilla as well as Bacula will most likely be integrated as an Amahi core-component.
If all goes according to plan Amahi 6 will also be the first version that may be getting a commercial version making it more suitable for System Builders and OEM's.

[Side projects]
Since Amahi 6 will be a lot of work, we are also planning a list of 'side projects' (being features that are not directly integrated into the Amahi release itself, but will still enhance it in any kind of way)..
The first 'side project' we are looking volunteers for is: Amahi-buntu - Since being asked for we are looking for Ubuntu devs who can help us making a Ubuntu port of the Amahi-core.
Another feature we would like to see is a: minimal_boot.iso that would be a revised install media for Fedora Linux.
It should incorporate:
a very minimal Linux install,
Raid support,
The entire list of Amahi dependencies,
An SSH-deamon to enable a headless install over ssh.
And probably some other features as well

So basically I'd like to know if there is any "plan" besides roadmap about userbase, what kind of user does amahi wants? the app categorization on amahi.org website I think gives a clue to what it might really be, is it still for "Small Business(Office)", "Education" and "Home"?
If this is the case I think that "Home" is ready and the "roadmap" is perfect and fits very well options like the plug computer and is already a "OEM ready" system besides some change (ubuntu and iso).
When it comes to the other two I think it's much more difficult, the userbase is different and need different things, both in terms of system and "marketing", looks like changes that only improves "home" use (Modular core, authentication, backup) and are still worked on are basic for "Small Business" and "Education"

[davepermen]

hello amahi community

I'm myself a windows user, so I have windows home server right now. As you might know, it's quite similar. It has similar popularity problems, too. Everyone who has it, absolutely loves it. But, even with (some) advertising from microsofts side (so there's not 0 budget there), it's still just a niche product, very unpopular.

But don't let that discourage you. Amahi sounds great, and will maybe my next "windows home server". After the debacle that is Windows Home Server 2.

Yesterday, they announced to remove the Drive Extender (greyhole for amahi) from the next whs version. The one feature, that all the fans of whs absolutely love.

So in the end, one good thing came out of all this: I learned about Amahi. I'm sure to test it out someday, and you sure get free advertising from me. greyhole sounds great. I'm not particularly interested in linux (or anything unix), but if it serves me well (pun intended), an amahi server it might be, in the future.

[t800]

hello amahi community. I'm myself a windows user, so I have windows home server right now. As you might know, it's quite similar. It has similar popularity problems, too. Everyone who has it, absolutely loves it. But, even with (some) advertising from microsofts side (so there's not 0 budget there), it's still just a niche product, very unpopular.

Hi Dave, on a personal note I admire the passion and dedication the MS community have for there product. As a technologist or Geek (A fancy name give to someone like me who pulls anything technical apart probably reprogram it never to work again LOL ) such passion can be very unproductive. People tend to take technology they own or use that gets something said against it tend to take it personally. You know the argument "My iPhone is far better than your "Win7phone" na na. The bottom line is unless we can say something sucks we can't move on and develop better. In being objective and contributing in some way we can all help good ideas to bloom as bad code dies. Unfortunately for MS their aging 15yrs revamped architecture of there OS is showing signs of its retirement plan. Personally I think Amahi is worth my time to try and contribute some code to help move it forward. Potently I think it offers a far superior platform for the WHS replacement, only if the community decides is the best way to go

[sai9000]

First let me say that Amahi is a truly great product/platform for home users.

I echo Wilhelm's statement (which was wonderfully put) that the choice can be daunting for novices and average home users.

I also agree that choice does matter for discerning audience who expect the best of breed in everything.

Hence may I suggest the following:
1. Amahi team should pick one application in each category
2. Integrate it completely with single sign-on and administration features
3. If possible, try to have the same look and feel in each of these apps (common themes?)
4. If a user installs these apps, they know how to navigate, they feel at home using these apps
5. Provide an option for the discriminating user to install other applications in each category