There's no right way to do it, only ideas that are better than others in certain situations. But if you had the opportunity to head up the design of a new OS, one to Put Things Right, one that could be radical enough to varnish out those UI/X bumps that have clung on for years, but practical enough to be used every day, what would you design? How would you handle application management? What about file types and compatibility? Where would you cherry pick the best bits from other OSes and where would you throw away tradition? I've tackled this challenge for myself and present (an unfinished idea): KrocOS (warning: HTML5 site, will display without CSS in IE/older browsers). OSnews Asks: What would make your perfect OS?
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2007-04-30
The most important thing for me that needs to be addressed is responsiveness.
Neither Linux(im talking about the userland here) or Windows addresses responsiveness i require.
I use a fairly quick SSD here and its still slow compared to more leaner OS.
I know its lacking functionality still but Aros kicks ass over the big boys for launching apps.
Apps start quicker on old HD than modern apps on SSD.
Somehow this needs to be addressed.
Remove BLOAT !
Member since:2009-05-06
Linux is as bloated as you want. That's how it fits into so many embedded environments. Try a different kernel then the generic one in the repository (for instance the Real Time Kernel). Or use a lighter distro. If that's still not enough compile you own kernel setup as you like it. Or even roll your own distro. ;-)
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
Member since:2006-01-02
Responsiveness: take a real-time kernel or BFS for a spin. My desktop is generally more powerful than I need, but RT kernels, and now BFS, make up for everything but crappy X video playback on my notebook.
App startup: it's a PITA of a distro, but check out DeLi, sometime. Made to be really light to core (uClibC for IA32 
)...OMGWTFBBQ start times.
Member since:
2006-09-22
I'd go for a small kernel, and an extremely minimalistic UI that would spend most of the time hidden. I'd like the window manager to include a "tiled mode" like wmii, dwm and friends.
The central point would be an app / document / web launcher and nothing else. This would require tight integration with file indexing services and web services of course, but it can be done today.
Actually, I think I can do something fairly similar using some Linux / BSD derivative
Edit: Oh, of course, no modal windows. At all.
Edited 2009-11-05 21:38 UTC