Slashdot Mirror
Operating Systems Are Irrelevant
zincks writes "David Gelernter (Yale Professor of Computer Science, and Unabomber target) has a
story in the NY Times which states, (1) Operating systems are relics of the past, (2) We should be able to access data anytime/anywhere, by (3) seeing a stream of 3D documents(?), so (4) he's written such
software, and (5) that's all you should care about so it doesn't matter that it runs under windows.
This is a fantastic (definition: based on fantasy : not real (?)) vision of the future by a premier technologist."
First they come out with 3D Doritos, now 3D Documents.
What's next, 3D cheese? Oh wait....
Access to documents anytime/anywhere?
Even when the OS of the server is taken down by the Slashdot effect?
I think I'll go and see what new has happened on the Censorware front...
What? I didn't expect that. I thought the page had something to do with exposing censorware. Oh well, it's the same as with whitehouse.com... Damn squatters...
Microsoft will be subject to careful scrutiny for abusive activity.
It's a joke, isn't it?
PENAROL: Seras eterno como el tiempo y floreceras en cada primavera.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
Now I'll have a real use for those old Nintendo accessories I've been hanging onto.
(1) Operating systems are relics of the past,
[snip]
(4) he's written such software, and (5) that's all you should care about so it doesn't matter that it runs under windows.
So every operating system but Windows is a relic of the past? I'll second the description of this as 'fantasy'.
(The NY Times site seems rather unresponsive at the moment...)
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
Operating systems are relics of the past
Yes, because who in their right mind would need a system to operate their computer, I mean I read binary like Neo reads The Matrix. Don't you?
Sheesh, just because the guy has a degree he thinks he knows it all....though he must have something going for him if the UnaBomber had his sights on him. He had better hope his idea doesn't catch on or a few more people might have their sights on him too.
-Tolerate my intolerance
(6) ?????
(7) Profit!
Ka-ching!
This space for rent.
Far-fetched? Think about it: With MySQL, the People's Army will now be able to do multiple queries on their tables of democratic activists in Olog(n) time instead of lengthy searches in card catalogs. The bureaucratic overhead previously allowed activists enough time to flee the country. How about building cheap firewalls so the people can't get the unbiased reporting that CNN provides? Or using Apache to publish lists of Falun Gong people to their police forces instantly? I doubt that never crossed your minds when you were coding away in your parents' basements. Consider putting that little thought in your mental resolv.conf file.
If that does not concern you ( which it probably doesn't, since the lashout.org paradigm is publishing articles about how not to pay for things ), consider something else. When China eventually goes to war with Taiwan, we want to be able turn their command and control facilities into the computing equivalent of a train-wreck. One of the advantages of Windows never mentioned in the article is the ability of Microsoft to remotely deactivate Windows XP in the case of a national emergency. Thanks to GNU/Lunix, Taiwan will be on a collision course with the mainland in the near future.
Which throws into question Mr. Stallman's motives. A known proponent of socialism, the Chinese government and RMS are natural allies. Could it be a back door to Stallman's dream of an über-Socialist United States? We may never know for sure. Next time you consider contributing to an open source project, ask yourself this question: don't you want to make sure your work isn't used for nefarious purposes? Will you risk having blood on your hands?
Best Slashdot Co
Pre-emptive Slashdotting.
The highest karma level is not, as is commonly thougt, 50. Some users have acheived karma scores upwards of 15,000. Once this level is acheived users are so well attuned to slashdot that they can predict the stories that will appear on the frontpage and begin slashdotting.
"hehe, website" - Homer Simpson
"He had some far fetched ideas about completely tossing the desktop out of the window"
Linux has some far fetched idea about completely tossing Windows out of the desktop.
Funny, eh?
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
When can we get this, so RMS can shut up?
I, for one , can't wait.
"They should be called GNU/3d Documents, because if it wasn't for the GNU/Linux OS to become a relic, no one would have thought to make somehting else. It is obvious that this technology only exists because GNU caused the creator to come up with the idea."
Ok, maybe he won't shut up.
And also, he would like a pony.
No, make that two ponies. No, eight. No, a pony should be available wherever he goes at any hour of the day.
------
Today's Top Deals
They are? Uh oh..
WIOj23 902*@+++
NO CARRIER
Trolling is a art,
X is just a hardware abstraction layer. This guy is talking about something radical and new. A way of abstracting the data beyond the constraints of platform and UI. Something that you could describe in a simple way that would allow you to locate data anywhere, interpret it in a way that made sense for you and render however and wherever appropriate. It could be the building blocks for a whole new way of communicating.
Oh, wait. That was the World Wide Web. Never mind.
Great idea, but instead of just software, I need a datajack implanted into my skull and a cyberdeck. That way, not only is everything rendered in 3D, but if I get pissed off at that stupid paperclip, I can engage it in combat in the Matrix.
The World's Worst Webcomic!
So based on what he said the UI displaded in Jurasic Park I was almost correct.
It did have an operating system("Hey this is Unix, I know this.") however the OS was irrelavent, but it allowed anyone to access the system(just reboot the system and you had full access), it had this stream of 3D document, and they had the software.
"We need Microsoft itself to be the universal stepladder that lets us climb out of our hole and smell the roses"
So, what are they now ? Universal snake that eats all of us down to the basement ?
getSexySig();
Kinda like having an XML Layout sheet tatooed on your forehead then running headlong into documents.
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
Bah, *you* don't have an article in the New York Times. Maybe if you get this "extensible markup language" idea covered by a national media source, then we'll take you seriously. Until then, let the professionals deal with device-independent information presentation.
Oh wait, that was Java.
Yup. Sure sounds like paper to me. Simple to describe. Locate anywhere. Interpret it how I want. Render whatever's on it.
Plus, there's almost no smell as comforting to the soul as the smell of an old book.
I was thinking it was a evolution... not a regression... [makes me thinking of machines without OS... like Amstrad PCW... the television... the fridge...]
Cheers...
Host:If you could do anything to save the world, what would it be?
Contestant 1: I would make world peace, and we can all frolic like little bunnies and everyone will be happy!
Host:What a great a great answer! Contestant 2, what would you do?
Contestant 2, who looks surprisingly like David Gelernter:I would make an OS, except it's not an OS, it's a magical OS that runs the same everywhere, and can read all data, and somehow convinces asshole companies to do away with proprietary file formats. So it's like Java, and XML all together, and kind of like that browser OS based on Mozilla too. Oh, and it won't be slower than dookie. I promise.
Host:Christ, and I thought "World Peace" was a dipshit answer.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
Slashdot?
Nonsense. The open source community spends considerable amounts of time and intellectual capital in internecine warfare about how to make some variety of alternatly licensed Unix clone look and behave exactly like Windows.
In the context of the document 3D means that documents exist not in a visible z plane, but in a 3rd TIME dimension. You're not going to need stereoscopic glasses to read your files. Just to be able to concieve that a filesystem can have a TIME dimension to it
So I can just seek ahead in time until I find my finished report? This guy's on to something.
"I don't blame Microsoft for the failure of Newton.
I blame Leibniz.