HexOS: Powered by TrueNAS

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I feel that the target audience is quite narrow for this.

  • :x: You rule out those who are savvy enough to build their own custom NAS boxes and know a thing or two about the underlying technology and software.

  • :x: You rule out those who may have less technical knowledge than the above cohort, but the TrueNAS GUI itself is user-friendly enough for them to get by.

  • :x: You rule out those that could absolutely benefit from the streamlined simplicity that the HexOS GUI offers (yes, even as a “cloud-based remote dashboard”), because they still need a degree of hardware and software knowledge to build their own NAS server in the first place, let alone address hardware maintenance and upgrades.

  • :x: You rule out those who cannot be bothered with managing their own hardware locally, since they will just defer to cloud-based storage solutions (of which there are plenty to choose from.)

So that leaves users that:

  • :white_check_mark: Are willing to pay a premium for a pre-built NAS server, loaded with storage drives.
  • :white_check_mark: Find the TrueNAS GUI somehow “too advanced and confusing”.
  • :white_check_mark: Are willing to pay a monthly fee for an “extra user-friendly” remote dashboard.

Let’s imagine a user that does not fit the above profile.

He logs into his HexOS account. He gets an alert that one of his drives is failing in his “storage pool”. (Let’s say it’s a RAIDZ2 vdev).

How does the HexOS GUI help him beyond what the TrueNAS GUI already offers? Is the HexOS GUI going to tell him which port the failing drive is connected to? Is the HexOS GUI going to show him a video tutorial of exactly what to do?

If he already understands concepts about “RAIDZ” and “vdev” and “ZFS”, then why wouldn’t he just use the TrueNAS GUI in the first place? And if he is that disconnected from these concepts, then how will HexOS “hold his hand” so that he can physically maintain and manage his local physical server?

I understand the motive behind this offering, but I believe that the target audience is just “too specific and narrow”, by the nature of offering an “extra friendly” remote dashboard to manage a local (and often custom-built) hardware storage server.

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