Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 23rd Oct 2010 22:23 UTC
"Windows 7 might be a massive commercial success and an undeniably rock solid piece of software, but Microsoft is apparently unwilling to rest on those soft and cozy laurels. Asked about the riskiest product bet the Redmond crew is currently developing, its fearless leader Steve Ballmer took no time in answering 'the next release of Windows'." Also of note in this same video interview thing: Ballmer states that Silverlight is now pretty much strictly a client, non-cross platform thing, while explicitly stating that when it comes to doing something universal, "the world's gone HTML5".
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Member since:2005-07-10
1/Graphic card drivers are generally linked to a single hardware platform, so how do they benefit from that interpreted ecosystem, knowing that they'll include a large amount of bus-specific code anyway ?
The busses are abstracted by the HAL. Card specific native code could be uploaded to the card. But card specific code is not hardware platform specific.
2/The vendor does have to provide some kind of source code (as opposed to platform-dependent binary) if we want the program to be compiled/interpreted on multiple platforms. If he does not want it to be human-readable, the best he can do is using an automated code obfuscation system like the one offered by Java...
That is exactly my point. The human-readable code is obfuscated by a compiler which emits VM runtime specific code.
Wrong, he must provide several images, since as you said a (tiny but necessary) part of the OS has to be hardware-dependent. Moreover, if the code has been properly written, the OS vendor generally only has to patch it once too. The extra step is to recompile it once for each supported platform, but if he doesn't do it, someone will have to do it at his place.
No, the OS I dream of does not have any platform dependent code. Device depend (e.g. firmware for a NIC) maybe, but no platform dependent code at all.
Netbeans for example has a identical code base for all hardware platforms. You can copy the installation directory tree from one platform to another. I "migrated" a Netbeans installation from Solaris 9 SPARC64 to RHEL on x86. It works. Just tar the directory tree on one platform and untar it on the other.
You can see it this way : either the OS vendor compiles one image per platform, or each user, on each platform, will have to compile an image in real-time at first boot and experience the sluggish Gentoo-style first impression that this leads to.
Yes, the installation routine requires a burn in script to be run. Also patches need a burn in script.
Well, yesterday I updated my private Windows XP system. Hey it took almost 1 1/2 hours until the updater has determined which patches are required. Even on a Solaris system patching may take hours. So, if you take the Debian apt-get mechanism instead of the Windows or Solaris update mechanisms you have a lot of time saved, which could be used to run the burn in ;-)
pica
PS I am home now. So, till tomorrow.
RE[3]: The benefit is ...
by Neolander on Mon 25th Oct 2010 16:54
in reply to "RE[2]: The benefit is ..."
Member since:2010-03-08
Well, sounds like this would require a bit of help from the hardware (eg at loading time, for the loading process to be platform-independent). Personally, I think that an hybrid solution where a compilable source (obfuscated if vendors want) AND binary images for the main target platforms are provided would be better as far as performance is concerned, but we agree when it comes to saying that the hardware-dependent part of an OS should be kept minimal...
About netbeans, it works so because it's coded in Java. This cannot work for a kernel since to run java programs you need the JVM and the standard Java library, and implementing that basically requires one to code a whole OS whose sole role is to be a JVM (as has been done in research projects some times).
Edited 2010-10-25 16:58 UTC
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.More Features »
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Member since:
2010-03-08
The part up to the optimizing VM runtime can be provided be the hardware vendor.
1/Graphic card drivers are generally linked to a single hardware platform, so how do they benefit from that interpreted ecosystem, knowing that they'll include a large amount of bus-specific code anyway ?
2/The vendor does have to provide some kind of source code (as opposed to platform-dependent binary) if we want the program to be compiled/interpreted on multiple platforms. If he does not want it to be human-readable, the best he can do is using an automated code obfuscation system like the one offered by Java...
Wrong, he must provide several images, since as you said a (tiny but necessary) part of the OS has to be hardware-dependent. Moreover, if the code has been properly written, the OS vendor generally only has to patch it once too. The extra step is to recompile it once for each supported platform, but if he doesn't do it, someone will have to do it at his place.
You can see it this way : either the OS vendor compiles one image per platform, or each user, on each platform, will have to compile an image in real-time at first boot and experience the sluggish Gentoo-style first impression that this leads to.
Edited 2010-10-25 16:18 UTC