how I think an operating system should be

2014-11-16

azim58 - how I think an operating system should be

ideal operating system
ideal os
optimal os
best os
my ideas for an operating system

What do I think would be the ideal operating system?

ultimate operating system

The fundamental theme of the ideal operating system should be to aid the user to evolve information.
-the ideal os should support excellent wiki features: see [ideas for best wiki software 03-04-2014d1051]

file system should be integrated with internet from start
-you should be able to set permissions on any directories or files and allow anonymous access
-every directory and file should have a file path that is also a url accessible directly from the internet
-New directories, file renames, deletions, copy of file path should all be possible directly from a browser internet interface
-[desired features of file browser 10-31-2014d1130]

representation and manipulation of information (files/programs)
all files and programs should be viewable and editable in a text editor.
Then there would be different text interpreters and manipulators that would allow you to view and edit this text in different ways. So for example, a Starcraft text interpreter/editor would allow you to play the Starcraft game, but there could be other text interpreter/editors which allowed you to change the code of the Starcraft text.

GUI linked with console
In other words programs with a CLI (command line interface) integrated
with a GUI)
Any interpreter/editor (software) should have the GUI linked to a console so that the user could use a GUI for single time operations and ease of use, but use a console for further customization of the executed commands as well as batch automated execution of applying the commands to many instances. I guess the main point of this is that the user could have choices when they want them, but also be able to avoid tedious tasks when they don't want them.

organization of information
Information ("the filesystem") should be organized in the form of a connected network rather than a heirarchy. For example, wikis are currently networks of connected information rather than just a heirarchy.  There should be many tools for navigating and modifying this network. For example, if I search for something, I should be able to sort the search results for matches which have the most or least links. As another example, I should be able to search for something, and I should be able to sort the matches by their distance in the network from a particular piece of information (document). Viewing the network should be very customizable so that the look and feel of navigating the network is totally separate from the core network itself, and users could greatly customize the look and feel of viewing and navigating the network. Adding new information and creating links to other information should be
extremely fast.
-Also if one has an absolute file path to a file, and this absolute file path is entered into the address bar, the folder/file explorer should allow for "fuzzy search" and automatically find similar filepaths (actually I added this previously to (see "the os should allow for fuzzy search and finding of directories" below).  Therefore, even if the file is not in the exact location (e.g. maybe all of the files have been copied to a new directory on a different computer or they have been copied to a web server with a different root path), then the file browser should still find the appropriate location.

general tools for problem solving
There should be lots of great tools for solving any type of problem in general. For example, there should be software that lets you use evolutionary algorithms to solve problems, analyze the entropy of any information entity, analyze networks, and software for general "information engineering" (I think this is kind of the direction that programming is becoming in general).

online platform for writing, running, debugging, and sharing code
people should be able to write, run, debug, and share code directly online for free (to an extent I guess; perhaps there would be limits on computational power).

support for keyboard only computing
The ideal os should allow a user to use it without using a mouse at all if they don't want to.
-keyboard only interface (they could use a mouse if they want as well)
--basically the user would hit some button or shortcut indicating that they want to navigate somewhere.  Then they would type whatever they see on the screen that they want to navigate to.  As they type, suggestions would come up which allow them to select the suggestion without typing the whole word if desired.  Then they press enter, and the button is clicked or the text is selected which they typed.
--graphics could be selected by typing the name of a graphic.  For example, if there is a button that is an image of an eagle the user could type bird, eagle, flying creature, etc.
--if more than one example of the text entered is present in the visual space, the user could select the one they want from a dropdown list.  As they move down the dropdown list, the appropriate visual area of the screen would be highlighted.  Then they would press enter and the text would be selected or they would click the button at that location.

the os should allow for fuzzy search and finding of directories.
-I often copy folders from one computer to another.  If I copy the text directory on the one computer, the new computer should be able to quickly find this folder even though the complete directory path is a little different.

azim58wiki: