Serious about software

Alan Kay once said that people who are really serious about software should make their own hardware. Though that could be the entire reason for wanting to design our own hardware (after all we are serious enough about software that we are designing our own programming language from scratch), there is a very practical reason as well.

What Kay is saying is that for software to deliver on its promises, the software designer needs full control over the hardware. This makes sense, because software does not run in a vacuum: it runs on a machine that has physical constraints and limitations. Trying to write software without these factors in mind is like writing a letter without knowing who we’re writing to!

For Radiant however, there is another reason that makes hardware a key part of the project: distribution. Radiant is a software platform; the central component of which is the Radiant Operating System. Delivering an OS to end users without hardware to ship it on is tricky to say the least. Though it can be done, few people are willing to (or knowledgeable enough) to install a new operating system on their computer. It’s hardly a nice onboarding experience!

So building our own hardware and designing our software for it is how we make sure that Radiant delivers the best experience possible for everyone.