Operating Systems of the Future

An anonymous reader writes: "'Imagine computers in a group providing disk storage for their users, transparently swapping files and optimizing their collective performance, all with no central administration.' Computerworld is predicting that over the next 10 years, operating systems will become highly distributed and 'self-healing,' and they'll collaborate with applications, making application programmers' jobs easier."

Beowulf cluster

[joebp]

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these 'future' computers!

Oh, wait...

Crazy users and VBS scripts

[satterth]

What happens when some user click on a VBS script ?

I image great horrors as the whole cluster goes down in a mass emailing.

/satterth

You will be assimilated

[HisMother]

Reading the Microsoft part of the story, I can't help but laugh out loud at what sounds like inspired self-parody on their part. All computers on Earth connected in one vast, organic, interdependent web, with biomechanical implants, cube-shaped ships, and active "healing" capability, to boot.

I imagine my Linux boxen surrounded by a couple of stiff-legged, lumbering, wire-encrusted Borg machines, finally proving that resistance is, indeed, futile, as they make my boxen over in their own image.

And Bill's head, with that little shiny snake-like tail, being clamped onto his body as he assumes command.

Unrecognizable in 10 years?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just like the ls -al commands I was issuing 10 years ago bear no resemblance to the ones I'm writing today.

Linux?

[squant0]

I don't ever see M$ doing something good in the future, I mean hey, they have been around since the 70s and look what you get, Winblows. Linux on the otherhand, may not be moving toward self healing, but definitely is moving in a better way than M$. 10 years to do the same thing it took M$ to do in 30? And with the average salary going to developers of linux software being about a dollar a year... 10 years is a long time, I think something cool needs to happen in a year for it to make any kind of impact, I mean the macintosh was revolutionary in the eairly 80s, but 10 years from then, guis were standard. The OS sector needs something revolutionary like the GUI to spur it on into the next few years, not the next 10.

Obligatory Star Trek Reference

[dfenstrate]

I'm looking forward to a time when the computer can be addressed from any point in the ship... um building, knows every bit of data ever publically recorded, remembers my music tastes, keeps a log for me, can run a Holodeck, make me a perfect dinner, and control warp fields... uh... in house heating- with perfection.

Until then, this all sounds like cute window dressing built on top of the next NT kernel.

OS's will be so smart in 10 years.....

[8string]

Farsite is just one of several projects at Microsoft Research and other labs around the world that will render operating systems all but unrecognizable in 10 years. Farsite embodies several characteristics--such as fault tolerance, self-tuning and robust security--that will distinguish operating systems of the future.

So, Bill is finally going to release a version of windows that will automatically simulate pressing ctrl-alt-delete when it blue screens.

Many people would say it's MS's customers that have been fault tolerant.
<rimshot!>

And they're called

[gorilla]

VAX Clusters [uni-ulm.de].

I already can't find a job

[hendridm]

Oh great. It's already impossible to find a job with my measly bachelor's degree and now I have self-healing computers to look forward to. I should studied accounting...

Druthers

[r_j_prahad]

I don't need a self-healing computer nearly as much as I need a self-painting house and a self-mowing lawn. And my wife could sure as heck use a self-fueling car.

Borg Time...

[PHAEDRU5]

Let me see if I've got this straight:

1. /. story about Microsoft getting legal permission to take over your computer, as part of a EULA.

2. ComputerWorld story that includes a line about how Microsft sees the computer of the future as one giant logical system with many small partitions.

Is anyone else joining the dots like I am?

Seems like a good idea...

[Arcanix]

I assume Microsoft will be releasing the source code and freely distributing Farsite so I support this project.

Brrr...

[sharkey]

...operating systems...and they'll collaborate with applications...

Windows Inheritance: "Psst. You crouch behind j.user's legs and I'll give him a push."
Clippy 5000: "OK"
*SHOVE*-splat!
Software: "Have a nice trip? See you next Fall! Muahaha!"

I only have 3 words for this...

[Anonymous Coward]

vay. per. ware.

Re:And the name of this new OS...

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't worry, Tron will defeat the MCP.

Re:OT: Why it is no longer humorous at all

[Anonymous Coward]

"and above all, about as original as Microsoft "innovation". "

Oh come on, nothing is that bad, except perhaps: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."

Re:OS's will be so smart in 10 years.....

[Anonymous Coward]

>>So, Bill is finally going to release a version >>of windows that will automatically simulate >>pressing ctrl-alt-delete when it blue screens.

So Linux is finally going to release a version of the kernel that automatically reboots the machine instead of having to yank the cord when it freezes hard?

Re:Whew

[scott1853]

They're learning this month, not identifying bugs. It takes about 30 days to teach an MS programmer with a CS degree that makes $60,000+ a year that you can't fit 2048 bytes of uncompressed data into a 256 byte buffer.

Re:Druthers

[Anonymous Coward]

self-painting house [...] self-mowing lawn [...] self-fueling car.

These are called "igloo", "astroturf" and "bicycle".

Wait ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Where are the flying cars already?

Re:Druthers

[Kalabajoui]

There ARE self-painting houses; the marvelous new technology that allows this feet of engineering is known as "vinyl siding."

Re:Futurists are stupid

[himself]

In honor of my brother (from whom I first heard this, though he could have ripped it off) I present John's Ominutile Justification: "Sure it's stupid, but chicks dig it."