Assuming Haiku can succeed in inheriting the "media OS" crown from BeOS in the months ahead, it's starting to look to me like, in all other respects, like Haiku might be ready for an R1 release in 2012.

As someone who is testing Haiku 24/7, my experience is that the operating system itself is extremely solid at this point. Networking seems fast and stable. Appearance is attractive. The overall OS experience is very smooth, very enjoyable, and very "BeOS!"

The remaining Achille's heel appears to be media handling, which is still wobbly here and there. In my extensive testing it has been prone to crashing, especially when it is used extended periods of time. Once crashed, the media server doesn't reset well. You normally have to reboot to get sound back. Recording is also problematic at present, and there are a few other problems here and there in the media area that need to be addressed if our goal in Haiku R1 is to make it a reflection of BeOS R5 (and a viable modern operating system),

As we move into the new year, I hope Haiku's media server can take center stage for some cleanups and improvements. If so, given how well Haiku is doing in other areas, it looks to me like 2012 could be the year we "light this candle!"