Document: WM-039                                                 P. Webb
Category: Operating Systems                                   2019.06.09

         The Future of the Operating System: Revisited, Part 1

Abstract

   Where we’re going is…fascinating and unknown.

Body

   Back in 2013[1] I penned an essay titled, "The Future of the
   Operating System." In it, I attempted to predict where the operating
   system paradigm was headed based on what was obvious to me at the
   time: cloud services were taking off and mobile devices were seeing
   greater usage than personal computers. Logically (to me), this meant
   the concept of a responsive OS was upon us. Some of the cited
   examples were Firefox OS[2] and Ubuntu Edge[3], products that were
   both designed to be highly mobile primary computing devices that
   would dock to an apparatus on one’s desk to become a full-fledged
   workstation. The essay was also an opportunity to plug my OS
   in-progress (now dormant), hikari[4], built around the responsive
   OS concept.

   For now, a rectangular slab of glass and metal that more or less fits
   in the palm of an adult hand appears to be the preferred format for a
   mobile computing device. Specific details and component internals can
   and will change but the external probably won’t change much so no
   time will be spent talking about that. Instead, I’ll go over my
   favorite UI concepts that inventive minds have created in the
   half-decade since my inital opus.

   1. eDEX-UI[5]


   eDEX-UI is a fullscreen, cross-platform terminal emulator and
   system monitor that looks and feels like a sci-fi
   computer interface.
   
   Heavily inspired from the TRON Legacy movie effects[6]
   (especially the Board Room sequence[7]), the eDEX-UI project was
   originally meant to be "DEX-UI[8] with less « art » and more
   « distributable software »". While keeping a futuristic look and
   feel, it strives to maintain a certain level of functionality
   and to be usable in real-life scenarios, with the larger goal of
   bringing science-fiction UXs to the mainstream.
   
   It might or might not be a joke taken too seriously.



      
      
      

      The on-screen keyboard suggests the use of this UI on a large
      touchscreen table (like Microsoft’s PixelSense[9] or Oblivion’s
      Light Table[10]) or at least the 12" iPad Pro. Despite what some
      would consider "visual noise", this UI has almost everything one
      would need for text entry and multitasking.

      I personally don’t see myself using a UI like this because of
      limited color palette. It looks wonderful for focus though.

      If nothing else, it is fun to look at and pretend you’re in a
      future where hoverboards are actually real and not 🤬 batteries
      on wheels.

   2. Desktop Neo[11]


   Neo is a conceptual desktop operating system interface that is
   built for todays people, needs and technologies.



      
      
      

      This UI is all about fullscreen EVERYTHING. Window manager lovers
      would be so into this (looking at you, /r/unixporn[12] community).
      Heck, I am into this! All day every day I am CONSTANTLY
      resizing/swiping/moving windows around.

      The panel concept of this UI is nice and the search functionality
      sounds like something I need. I am currently on the beta for
      macOS Catalina and it almost has the concept down but you can
      only split two windows, max.

      

      I do like how productive it makes me feel so maybe I’ll become a
      heavy user of it (and hope Apple expands on the feature). Of the
      UI concepts showcased here, Desktop Neo is my favorite.

   3. Mercury[13]


   Mercury is a speculative reimagining of the operating system as
   a fluid experience driven by human intent.
   
   No Apps or Folders. Mercury fluidly assembles content and
   actions based on your intentions. So you can focus on the
   destination, not the many ways to get there.



      
      
      
      

      This is interesting because it completely strips away the desktop
      paradigm and creates something that aims to intuit what you’ll do
      based on previous interactions. Basically, local machine learning
      to help you be more productive.

      Mercury makes heavy use of shortcuts and search to get around,
      so this isn’t the UI for the faint of heart.

      The mockups show email messages and some neat things around that
      but nothing else. It’d be interesting to see how a web browser
      would look. How do I see all my apps? The creator of Mercury says
      there aren’t any apps but come on, OF COURSE there are.

      I’m excited to see where Mercury heads but for now, it just looks
      like a nice email app.

   Thoughts

      A key issue I have with every UI concept mentioned here (and
      nearly every one on the Internet) is the lack of real work being
      done within them. Outside of an email or text prompt, you rarely
      see how a coder would use it. Or an analyst. Or a designer. Or
      anyone being productive, period.

      A common thread that brings these concepts together is, focus.
      Another is change (obviously). After all, the desktop metaphor[14]
      as we know it was created in 1970. Nineteen seventy. What you
      are reading right now was written in 2019, nearly 50 YEARS later
      and…not much has changed.

      As I am wont to do, I think about lapsed projects of mine and
      wonder what would warrant further development. In hikari’s case,
      it doesn’t make sense to simply recreate the tried-and-true
      desktop metaphor. If my aim is to solve problems inherent to a
      dated paradigm, keeping with the status quo is NOT the way to go.

      One of the reasons Apple’s iOS is massively popular is because
      users don’t have to think about files and folders, a chief tenant
      of the desktop paradigm.

      So…where do we go from here?

      I don’t pretend to have the answer but I think we’re slowly
      going in the right direction. 🕸