Comments on: The Desktop OS Will Never Die – Just Multiply

By: Ben Bajarin

Ben Bajarin — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 14:34:31 +0000

Phillip, your comment is right again that of course it will look nothing like it did in the early days. As a matter of fact if you look deeply at Chrome and Google’s Chrome OS it certainly looks like they are assuming that the browser becomes the window to the software world and that future web software through the browser has access to utilize the hardware.

This is why at I/O they made a point to emphasize that they wanted browser based software to be able to make calls to the GPU for example.

This model that Google has already shown a vision for paints a picture where localized / installable software becomes browser based software.

HTML 5 is showing us some pretty powerful examples, case in point mugtug.com which Google highlighted at I/O. That is some pretty powerful software running in the browser, and that is just the beginning.

By: Philip Berne

Philip Berne — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 05:42:09 +0000

Really? You’re arguing about the terminology? Have you never heard the term cloud OS used to describe a mainframe/terminal relationship before? That’s really adorable. Welcome to 2008. You should work in marketing! I’m sure Microsoft would love to throw away all the inroads made into the consumer household since the launch of Windows 95, the most well branded OS ever. You’re absolutely right, we shouldn’t try to sell consumers a “cloud OS,” because that’s too simplistic, and if there’s anything consumers want, it’s definitely more complicated, technical terminology. We need to sell Windows Mainframe to use with their Terminals. I’ll bet at least 1,000 people would buy into that, and they could make, like, hundreds of dollars. That would be awesome.

By: Chad Kilroy

Chad Kilroy — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 02:49:08 +0000

This new technology is so cool, cloud OS, yeah… And then maybe later they will call it something like a “mainframe”, and then we willl be connecting to it from our “terminals”, like low-power devices to connect to the cloud, yeah… And then imagine one day maybe each one of us can have our own “mainframe”, our own personal cloud, and maybe it will be called PC for personal cloud, yes… I am giddy with excitement…

By: Philip Berne

Philip Berne — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:08:02 +0000

Great point, Ben, about the cloud OS. Certainly every major OS house has been rumored to be working on a cloud OS for a while. I don’t think the benefits of the cloud will be a smaller footprint in the home, though. For a long time, you’ll still need a desktop-class machine to run a cloud OS. I think the real benefit of a cloud OS will be invisible updates, on-demand features as you mentioned, and more stability. Eventually, everything will move to cloud storage, but I think the end user experience will be closer to the extensible desktop OS, rather than the more static mobile OS.

By: Ben Bajarin

Ben Bajarin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:17:26 +0000

Good writeup Philip and welcome again to the Slash Gear team.

After looking at something like OnLive i’m not sure I would say the desktop OS or thick local client will NEVER go away. I definitely think it is here to stay for a while. But when you talk to Steve Perlman founder of Web TV, Moxi and now OnLive it becomes clear that he sees a future where the desktop OS is virtualized in the cloud and in essence accessed by any web enabled client.

This is an interesting approach to think about because it in essence paints a picture of the desktop OS software as a service. Its there when you need it but only when and if you need it.

Just some thoughts.

By: UnderDoc

UnderDoc — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 20:19:31 +0000

Fair enough, well once you consider Windows and Linux, the argument becomes rather trivial, doesn’t it? For real work, desktop OSes (also found on most laptops) are obviously here to stay.

You wanted perhaps to make a prediction specifically about Apple’s desktop OS, which is a lot less important on a global scale…

By: Philip Berne

Philip Berne — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:31:45 +0000

A good point. But I’m not talking about Apple in general, I’m talking about Apple’s desktop OS vs. mobile OS. Mac OS X is a desktop OS, just like WIndows.

This discussion online came to a head when pundits started discussing the death of the desktop OS after Apple’s WWDC. I do use Apple as my springboard, but I wouldn’t say my assessment is positive. In fact, in my last Apple paragraph, I’m critical of the people who use them as the best example of this trend. In fact, I’m talking about Mac OS X, Windows 7, Ubuntu and any desktop-class OS.

By: UnderDoc

UnderDoc — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:25:49 +0000

Your title begins with “The Desktop OS”, and then you go on and rant about Apple, and only briefly mention Windows, wtf?

By: sashoumaru

sashoumaru — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:03:15 +0000

You can always use a terminal service app (remote desktop connection or VNC) via SmartPhone or iPad (or similar) to your main computer and do the same work you would as if you were in front of it. A bluetooth keyboard would be a must though.