About Haven
Who makes it, why, how it's paid for, and what we promise.
Who makes it
Haven is made by Rightek IT Services, a locally owned computer repair and IT business in Edmonton, Alberta. We fix computers, recover files people can't lose, and look after small businesses' IT. Haven is our own project, built in the open.
It started with a client. Their family needed a computer that stayed calm: no surprises, no noise, nothing that moves by itself, and nothing that could be broken by accident. Nothing we could buy or set up did that for the whole of a person's day, and we hoped we could help make a better way. So we started building it, for that family first, and then for everyone on the spectrum and the people who support them.
How it's paid for
Haven is free, and it stays free. There are no adverts, no paid features, and no data about the people who use it is collected or sold. The work is supported by donations only. If Haven is useful to you and you can give something, it goes to development time; if you can't, Haven is just as yours.
A way to donate is being set up. Until then, the best help is telling us what would help: a few questions, five minutes, no name needed.
What we promise
Nothing leaves the computer
Haven sends nothing about the person anywhere. The optional parts that reach the internet (Messages, helpers' phone alerts, games from Flathub) are off until someone switches them on, and each is explained first.
Nothing changes by surprise
Updates wait to be chosen. Every change is shown to the person, with who made it, and can be put back.
Open, and checkable
Haven is free software (GPL-3.0). Its source is published with each release, so anyone can read what it does.
Honest about where it's at
Haven is still being tested. We'll say so until it isn't, and the front page always shows the stage it's at.
Get in touch
Email hello@havenlinux.org. We read everything. For anything about your computer rather than Haven, Rightek is at rightek.ca.
What this site stores, and what it doesn't: Privacy.