Internet Operating Systems

In April 2002, Tim O'Reilly spoke of "the emergent Internet operating system" as an open collection of Web services. Among these web services are search engines, logs, instant messengers, email, file sharing, wireless networks, grid computing, and web spidering. There are many systems competing to dominate this mass network. Large companies such as Microsoft and Sun are building massive systems, and talented programmers are building smaller web services by the thousands.

We are now well into the Web 2.0 era. Websites can be contained networks in themselves, with browser based applications and interactively built websites. Perhaps the most well known of such websites is the infamous Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia (2010), 'the characteristics of Web 2.0 are rich user experience, user participation, dynamic content, metadata, web standards and scalability. Further characteristics, such as openness, freedom and collective intelligence by way of user participation by way of user participation, can also be viewed as essential attributes of Web 2.0.'

The idea is for the Internet itself to be the basis of a new operating system that is capable of providing application services previously only available to the desktop. (O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2010). This allows for an unprecedented variety of open source options and free software communities. Many internet operating systems are developed via open source, such as EyeOS.

Ajax has allowed for the development of websites that mimic desktop applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, slide shows, and still others. I utilize a program called 'Joomla' that functions on many levels as an interactive operating system utilizing WYSIWYG editing to create a multi-user system. Add on applications in the form of modules are available as freeware or purchased applications, including systems that enable you to run a massive online store, library, communication system, and friend network all in one.

According to EyeOS (2010) "the idea behind EyeOS is that the whole system lives in the web browser. The client must have only a web browser to work with EyeOS and all its applications, including Office and PIM ones... With a private server, eyeos can provide city councils, public library networks, free Internet points and other public environments the perfect system for their users to have a web place to work and communicate with the network managers, registering once and using it from every point."

In many ways, an Internet Operating System functions as a mainframe, turning PCs into workstations. A PC with a browser can access all the programming features on the IOS without the need to have anything but the browser installed on the PC. As an example, if I did not have a word processor on my computer, I could just fire up my trusty-dusty blog and type this entire report there, then use the 'send to friend' button to email it to a classmate for review, all without using any program on my computer other than the internet browser. And in fact, with my printer on the blink again, I've used just such a method to disseminate information to colleagues rather than faxing or emailing attachments. I have several databases to store the information and a variety of software installed on the server to handle the data, including accounting, editing, and networking. I can upload files to the site and they can then be accessed by all members of the site just by opening the file manager program. And this is just using Joomla, a bit of open source software that pales in comparison to what some of the large developers have come up with recently.

Microsoft's .NET consists of a "set of building block services" including Passport.NET (for user authentication) as well as services for file storage, user preference management, calendar management, and many other tasks. The .NET strategy is built around the principle of web services that are built around SOAP's XML messaging framework. (O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2010). Still other systems exist, such as PeerMetrics, REBOL, ROKU, The Chord Project, Thinkstream, Xcerion, and Virtual Access Networks.

There is some confusion regarding whether the term 'Internet Operating System' applies to the web-based application, or to the software that actually allows the servers to run and is the platform upon which the other systems are built. My website may use Joomla to run, but the server it is on utilizes Apache. Unix-based systems are probably the most common server systems, though Microsoft's server suites are also powerful competitors.

References

O'Reilly Media, Inc. (2010). Internet Operating Systems. Retrieved from http://openp2p.com/pub/t/76

O'Reilly Media. (2010). Inventing the Future. Retrieved from http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2002/04/09/future.html

Palmer, M., & Walters, M. (). Guide to Operating Systems Enhanced Edition (3rd ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

EyeOS. (2010). What Can EyeOS Do For Me?. Retrieved from http://eyeos.org/en/iamnewWikipedia. (2010). Web 2.0. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0