Modify Colors
Operating System's As Web Browsers
Recently there has been some discussion of operating systems becoming irrelevant as applications and data move to the web. This begs the questions of (a) are operating systems becoming irrelevant and (b) how can Linux stay relevant?
First of all, operating systems can never become completely irrelevant unless computers become irrelevant, because you need an operating system to make a computer work. They can, however, get to a point where they are so generic that it does not matter what operating system you use. I don’t think that even that will happen, though.
What will, quite likely, happen, though, is that operating systems as managers of many applications will be transformed into operating systems as web browsers. Does that mean the end of innovation in the OS? No, not at all. It does mean that open-source operating systems, such as Linux, will have an advantage due to Firefox (and/or Firefox-based browsers such as Flock) being both open-source and currently, I would say, the most innovating browser(s). Plus, you can take some of Linux’s features, such as multiple desktops, and apply them to the web browser.
So operating systems are not going to become irrelevant, but they are going to change a lot and when that change occurs, Linux is quite likely to turn out on top.
Related posts:
- The Theory Of Google's Chrome As An Operating System There is no doubt that Google did a nice job...
- Operating System Reaction Times When you’re driving a car, the road in front of...
- Why Linux Must Work With The Cloud Right now, operating systems run on your computer. Period. Sure...
- Google's Chrome: What is it for? Today, Google announced a new project – a web browser...
- Firefox: An Model for Open-Source Promotion Almost every open-source project, no matter if it currently has...
“First of all, operating systems can never become completely irrelevant unless computers become irrelevant, because you need an operating system to make a computer work.”
Two words: net boot. I can envision a scenario where, among the various diversifications of computers (desktop, laptop, netbook), one class becomes pure internet terminals. They have no hard drives at all, and instead boot straight from the net.
Naturally, this would require a massive upgrade of the existing network infrastructure, including true gigabit ethernet piped directly into our homes. Using the existing coaxial cable infrastructure has been a useful hack, but we’re reaching the limits of that technology, since the “last mile” of the internet is becoming a crippling bottleneck.
But it could happen in principle. It would be useful on two fronts: 1) computers (at least the internet terminal variety) would be cheaper, allowing more people to have internet access, 2) booting the same OS from a central server would allow you to work in the same environment on any computer without the need for back up / synchronization tools.
Of course, my preference would be Linux, but even proprietary operating systems could create a model where booting from a central server to multiple computers would be cheaper than installing copies of the operating system on each one.
Naturally there are security risks, but there are plenty of security risks already. SSL encryption and key identification would be necessary.
Ultimately, users could choose the model that suits them. So get ready for Ubuntu Netboot!
That’s why, however, things like Monolight are quite useful
Unfortunately you still see people using ActiveX for whatever odd reasons, do Firefox on Linux isn’t supposed but Windows one is.
@linuxloop
To clarify something:
OS will never become irrelevant, they will only be irrelevant to “average joe/mary” who just wants to get on the Web and work on the cloud.
their are other aspects to an OS: a programming environment (could also be cloud based), a gaming platform (could also be cloud based: internet gaming), etc
well using web apps offline and something like adobe air are also great.
anyway, marketshare and mindshare will always be big factors