OS Revolution and Innovation

[Rashedul]

Just wondering and thinking out loud, who will cause the next revolution in desktop OS? Will it be Windows or Linux? Windows 7 is on the horizon coming in the not too distant future. MS is hinting at some "new user interface paradigm". I use Ubuntu as my primary OS but a lot of the things we do on the computer is similar from one OS to the next, be it Windows, GNU/Linux or Mac.

If Windows 7 introduces new UI changes will we end up just emulating and playing catchup with OSS alternatives? Keeping in mind it is often hard to change something we are so used to. Change is often resisted.

I don't really have any particularly innovative ideas to contribute. Just thinking out loud about the future of operating systems.

From Wikipedia:

Bill Gates, in an interview with Newsweek, suggested that the next version of Windows would "be more user-centric."[9] When asked to clarify what he meant, Gates said:
“ That means that right now when you move from one PC to another, you've got to install apps on each one, do upgrades on each one. Moving information between them is very painful. We can use Live Services to know what you're interested in. So even if you drop by a [public] kiosk or somebody else's PC, we can bring down your home page, your files, your fonts, your favorites and those things. So that's kind of the user-centric thing that Live Services can enable. [Also,] in Vista, things got a lot better with [digital] ink and speech, but by the next release there will be a much bigger bet. Students won't need textbooks; they can just use these tablet devices. Parallel computing is pretty important for the next release. We'll make it so that a lot of the high-level graphics will be just built into the operating system. So we've got a pretty good outline. ”

[bruce89]

They tried this before, but tablet PCs never took off.

[ibuclaw]

U3 technology has enabled people to take their lives with them.

It's as simple as plugging in a USB stick and the Desktop changes to your settings. Your desktop background, your icons, your apps (given that they are U3 applications that are installed on your stick) all working straight out of the box.

Then to switch back to the PCs original settings, just unplug the USB device and everything is restored in an instant.

http://www.u3.com/

As for desktop revolution, I think it will be hardware innovation for the next 10 years. User Interface can't really get much better.

[aysiu]

Just wondering and thinking out loud, who will cause the next revolution in desktop OS? Will it be Windows or Linux? What was the first revolution?

[smartboyathome]

Personally, I hate U3. If it were cross-platform, though, and didn't take as much space away from the USB stick which would never be returned, then I might use it.

[tamoneya]

Even if windows 7 manages to pull off some amazing revolution it wont matter. Ubuntu and the open source community have such a quick release cycle that it will be emulated within 6 months to a year.

Also I believe the firs OS revolution was windowed environments

[Rashedul]

What was the first revolution?

Personally for me I saw a big one going from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 and to Windows XP. Now I'm on Ubuntu so that was somewhat of a change too but not a huge one that was like going from 3.1 to 95.

I realize Revolution is vague and can be subjective. I was thinking more about changes and innovation. Big changes in a way.


Even if windows 7 manages to pull off some amazing revolution it wont matter. Ubuntu and the open source community have such a quick release cycle that it will be emulated within 6 months to a year.

Also I believe the firs OS revolution was windowed environments

Thats what I mean. So just emulate with the quick release cycles or will it be possible to overtake and force MS to play catchup? Sorta what Firefox did to Internet Explorer 7.

[tdrusk]

User Interface can't really get much better.

We say that, then every 6 months there are many changes in Ubuntu's UI.

[bruce89]

Personally for me I saw a big one going from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 and to Windows XP. Now I'm on Ubuntu so that was somewhat of a change too but not a huge one that was like going from 3.1 to 95.

The WIMP paradigm has been the same in all of those. Only the theme has changed.

I wonder if people knew about the GNOME Online Desktop (http://live.gnome.org/OnlineDesktop).

[the_darkside_986]

If they change the Windows 7 UI too much, they might annoy users. Then we could recommend to those users some GNU/Linux distro that has a default UI theme that resembles Windows XP.

[ibuclaw]

We say that, then every 6 months there are many changes in Ubuntu's UI.

Icons and Colours aren't really changes as such. Just improved accessibility.

Whereas when we look at the wider picture, Gnome has essentially always (for the most part) been the same.

Yes, new software will come to replace the ones already there as user accessibility to the OS environment becomes ever more improved.

But I remain persistent that Hardware (or the lack of) will be the next focussed goal.

[bruce89]

Icons and Colours aren't really changes as such. Just improved accessibility.

If you used the GNOME default theme, you'd notice changes.

2.10 : http://www.gnome.org/start/2.10/notes/figures/figure-keyboard-properties+layout.png
2.12 : http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/2.12/figures/figure-theme.png.en
2.14 : http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/2.14/figures/figure-gedit-mdi.png.en
2.16 : http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/2.16/figures/rnfeatures-tomboy.png.en
2.18 : http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/2.18/figures/figure-glade-big.png.en
2.20 : http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/2.20/figures/rnusers-gedit_color_schemes_preferences.png.en
2:22 : http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/2.22/figures/rnusers-vinagre.png.en_GB

[swoll1980]

Icons and Colours aren't really changes as such. Just improved accessibility.

Whereas when we look at the wider picture, Gnome has essentially always (for the most part) been the same.

Yes, new software will come to replace the ones already there as user accessibility to the OS environment becomes ever more improved.

But I remain persistent that Hardware (or the lack of) will be the next focussed goal.

what about the new user authorizations or display manager those are nice improvements
I don't know if thats a ubuntu thing or a gnome thing but either way it's an improvement in the UI

[bruce89]

what about the new user authorizations or display manager those are nice improvements
I don't know if thats a ubuntu thing or a gnome thing but either way it's an improvement in the UI

The first is a GNOME thing and the second thing is from Red Hat.

[SunnyRabbiera]

They tried this before, but tablet PCs never took off.

well thats because in the past tablet PC's were pricy...
I think in the near future the tablet PC can make a comeback with that kind of technology becoming cheaper.
give it a few years and technology advancing tablet PC could become just as cheap as low end laptops.

[drascus]

Unless Windows 7 is going to offer Freedom with their next version Gnu/Linux will still be far superior. From a pure technical sense it might be better and run faster and have a nicer interface. I doubt that it will but it is a possibility. For those who value convenience more then Freedom maybe that will be a choice they make. I disagree with that choice. So no matter what another OS offers I will be using a Free one.

[Bungo Pony]

I'd have to agree with the move from Win3.x to Win95, that was a huge change. There weren't any real competitors back then for OSes, and MS at that time was the innovator. They are now behind in their innovation... actually, a better term would be non-existant. They copy or buy ideas from others which is basically what MS has done for most of their career. Linux and Apple are the current innovators when it comes to OSes.

Something's happening, and something is going to happen within the next few years. Technology is changing rapidly, and MS is getting left in the dust. You seriously cannot tell me that if Win7 sucks that people are going to stay with XP. People will see others with Apple or Linux OSes and they'll realize that their XP systems are horribly ancient and outdated. Although I generally avoid Apple products, they've got some nifty things out there.

I could see the OS domination splitting in half between Apple and Linux, and both will be supported much like how the multiple game consoles are supported.

[cardinals_fan]

<snip>" So even if you drop by a [public] kiosk or somebody else's PC, we can bring down your home page, your files, your fonts, your favorites and those things. So that's kind of the user-centric thing that Live Services can enable. ”</snip>
Ah, who WOULDN'T want to trust all their data to Windows Live Services?

[Rashedul]

Ah, who WOULDN'T want to trust all their data to Windows Live Services?

I was just quoting Mr Gates there.

Besides I'm not a criminal so what do I have to hide? In Facebook, Windows Live and Tom Cruise we trust. :)

So I was googling the WIMP Paradigm and came across this. http://www.lri.fr/~dragice/papers/postwimp.pdf . It was simple but a good summary of some of the discussions.

I agree with one of the previous poster that hardware changes will probably drive forward some of the new innovation and change how we do our daily computer. Apple seems to be on the right track with their multi touch mouse.

Being open source and having power of the people behind Ubuntu will probably mean that we can take advantage of the new hardwares easily, as long as manufacturers play friendly.

For example I have the infamous Ali Corp Webcam (don't care about it, don't need it or ever use it but if I ever want to I can always boot back to XP). There were a lot of interest in writing a driver for this since a lot of people have this integrated webcam on their laptop but nothing could be done and project eventually went dead. Ali Corp even refused to release any data sheets to help the developers. Graphic card drivers provide another example of hardware driver challenges. But for me the good news is Ubuntu/Open Source community is growing rapidly. Hopefully that will "encourage" the manufacturers to be more Open source friendly :)

[swoll1980]

I was just quoting Mr Gates there.

Besides I'm not a criminal so what do I have to hide?


So what are you saying? that if someone enjoys a little privacy they must be some kind of criminal. I can think of a bunch of things that are not illegal that people might want to keep private. trust me me not wanting some corporation to have access to your private files does not make you a criminal.

[Rashedul]

So what are you saying? that if someone enjoys a little privacy they must be some kind of criminal. I can think of a bunch of things that are not illegal that people might want to keep private. trust me me not wanting some corporation to have access to your private files does not make you a criminal.

Oh come on, I was just joking and being a bit sarcastic. I actually dislike that line "I'm not a criminal what do I have to hide?" and agree with you. I also said "In Facebook, Windows Live and Tom Cruise we trust". So please don't twist things out of context. Thank you :)

[warbread]

Ah, who WOULDN'T want to trust all their data to Windows Live Services?

My thoughts exactly. Also, who's to say that MS wouldn't be scanning your account for "illegal" music and videos? What's more is that I can see a whole slew of software that's written to be compatible with the service. Just like we see hardware that's "Vista Ready!" these days, we could see commercial software that's "Windows Live! Ready". Seems like a decent, honest way to earn a few extra dollars, and that's what MS is all about.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Portable identity is what a lot of projects are poking at, but none are really grasping. The idea is being able to say "this is me", and then "these are all the ways I can be reached" in a consistent and powerful way. That is, I am my email account with Google, I am my user account on my desktop computer, I am my N810, I am my phone, I am my Facebook accunt, I am my Jabber account, I am those two user accounts on my laptop computer...

On each of those devices, I have a user account, generally with my name attached to it. However, the existing user paradigm is flawed from this point forth.
With the current model, every one of those devices has a different user account; billym on the laptop has a different UID than billym on the desktop, and thus file permissions do not translate happily between the two. Billy is split into many pieces, so the idea of one's user account being an extension of himself dies there.

This is where web services come in. The idea there is centralizing in a way that can't currently be done with tactile devices under today's infrastructure. I connect to the Internet with at least three different devices almost every day. Each of those devices has a different "me"; different photos, different PGP key, one has a typo in my name that I still haven't fixed... but I only have one Google account, and that account is entirely consistent.
The problem: This is centralized, this relies on an Internet connection, and this does not integrate with every apsect of one's digital existence.

Here comes the future!

Microsoft has a funny approach here. They obviously like the centralized web service idea, so are ready to make a thing out of Infocards, which essentially make it really easy for a user to duplicate his identity across many services and devices.

Personally, I hate duplication. Passionately. Here is another approach: Maintain a single record of what ammounts to "me", distributed across the devices I use. This can be achieved by a mixture of synchronization technologies and digital fingerprints, for example PGP and MAC addresses. Billy could identify (through what would have to ammount to a UI design masterpiece) that "billm@billy-laptop" is the same as "billy@mfamily-desktop".

From that point forth, software on the two devices would be able to consider paring the two users. I am not talking about synchronizing all data, but information for a single Identity system. The important part is simply that the devices know the different appearances of one person (connecting them all to his Identity), and keep track of that. Decentralization can then occur thanks to how people tend to have many duplicate instances of themselves on the Internet; those instances all play roles, being essentially keys to certain computers and services they provide. All of Billy's own services are available from his user account on any of his devices at any time, just so long as they can connect.

Long story short, the future is where "Billy" is the same user anywhere at any time, regardless of the hardware in use. This what the Internet allows, but current models insist on a painfully compartmental design. This does not require a particular "fingerprint", but a method of routinely paring with a standard "Identity" service.
I think OpenID is on an interesting looking path there, but that project is still looking a tiny bit too small. People split their identities on the Internet, but with the surging popularity of pocketable computers, this problem is becoming obvious another front: Access points.

[swoll1980]

Oh come on, I was just joking and being a bit sarcastic. I actually dislike that line "I'm not a criminal what do I have to hide?" and agree with you. I also said "In Facebook, Windows Live and Tom Cruise we trust". So please don't twist things out of context. Thank you :)

No problem. I just hate when I'm walking down the street at night and the police stop me and start asking me where I'm going what I'm doing "do you mind if I pat you down real quick" yeah I mind " why if your not doing anything wrong you have nothing to hide" so that comment kind of struck a nerve for me as I have lived in a big city my whole life and I often have these kind of encounters with the police