The Incredible Shrinking Operating System

snydeq writes "The center of gravity is shifting away from the traditional, massive operating systems of the past, as even the major OSes are slimming their footprint to make code bases easier to manage and secure, and to increase the variety of devices on which they can run, InfoWorld reports. Microsoft, for one, is cutting down the number of services that run at boot to ensure Windows 7 will run across a spectrum of hardware. Linux distros such as Ubuntu are stripping out functionality, including MySQL, CUPS, and LDAP, to cut footprints in half. And Apple appears headed for a slimmed-down OS X that will enable future iPhones or tablet devices to run the same OS as the Mac. Though these developments don't necessarily mean that the browser will supplant the OS, they do show that OS vendors realize they must adapt as virtualization, cloud computing, netbooks, and power concerns drive business users toward smaller, less costly, more efficient operating environments."

Comments

Apple doesn't want desktop OS on iPhone

[WiiVault]

Apple does not want to run the same version of Mac OS X that is designed for 1024 X 768 and above on a 480 x 320 device. That would be insanely unusable. Icons would been teeny, menus unnavigable, a total UI nightmare. If they mean the underpinnings of the OS, well that is already a reality.

Re:MS is working on a new OS architecture

[dougisfunny]

Maybe, what they are thinking is this way, only a few malware apps will be able to run at a time, since that is what a windows box is for right?