4 ms·

I wish people would not misuse the term "operating system" so much.

• steveklabnik 13y ago
  I'm posting this comment from a Chromebook. I'm imagining this could (I haven't gotten through all the marketing yet) be something very similar, which very much is an operating system.
  • 4ad 13y ago
    No, it's a javascript app plus another app that runs outside the browser. It's similar to freenet.
• zhemao 13y ago
  From the diagram, it seems they intend to put something resembling a microkernel stack in the browser app, which is a rather odd architectural choice. What exactly do you gain by piecing together low-level components inside the very high-level runtime that is a web browser?
• deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
• haberman 13y ago
  I don't think "operating system" is a particularly technical or well-defined term. It can mean anything from "kernel" to "kernel, userspace libraries, UI, package management / update infrastructure, etc." Its meaning is only slightly different from "platform", which basically means "any API to which you can program applications."
  • dsl 13y ago
    "Operating system" is a pretty technical and well defined term, you just might not be old enough to know it. :) An operating system is the core that is responsible for operating the underlying hardware of a computing device, upon which everything else is built. If you aren't concerning yourself with device drivers and task scheduling, you aren't building an operating system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system
    • Rhapso 13y ago
      I can see an argument that a system like this could be an "operating system" for a high level p2p system. Large swaths of what they are doing are undisclosed, but the object and user management system would make a decent theoretical operating system for decentralized p2p applications.
    • haberman 13y ago
      You have demonstrated that you subscribe to the "kernel" definition of an OS. By that definition, calling Windows or OS X an "operating system" is also an abuse, because 99% of what ships on those installation DVDs has nothing to do with device drivers or task scheduling. Also, by your definition, Android and Slackware Linux are the same "Operating System" because they share the same kernel and drivers. Which is exactly my point. This term is in common use and means different thing to different people.
      • dsl 13y ago
        You have demonstrated you just want to argue.
        • eevilspock 13y ago
          oh the irony!
        • haberman 13y ago
          What? This thread started when someone thought that people need stop using this term "incorrectly." I just pointed out that we should take it easy because the term is kind of overloaded in common usage.
        • haberman 13y ago
          Sorry if my reply came off as snarky, your post felt a bit condescending and seemed to ignore the content of the point I had previously made.
      • kllrnohj 13y ago
        > Also, by your definition, Android and Slackware Linux are the same "Operating System" because they share the same kernel and drivers. Well, no, they don't. Android still uses a slightly modified Linux kernel, and there is zero overlap in the drivers. Also they have fundamentally different approaches to task & memory management at the kernel level. Pedantics aside it's clear that Avatar is not an OS, not even with the most generous and broad definition. At least not with what little they've said so far. Because what they have so far in their diagrams and minimal technical info is yet another JavaScript framework paired with yet another set of web services around user authentication.