Web operating system: Forever a dream?

An idea was born a dozen years ago, whereby the daily work of a desktop computer will be transferred to the Web, suddenly revived.

The idea of ​​treating the Web as an operating system to reduce dependence on Windows desktop applications began to falter in the mid-90s, when Netscape's browser first launched.

Live "parasite"

Technically speaking, the Web operating system still has to "parasitize" on an underlying operating system, such as Windows or Linux, to translate user operations into hardware operations. However, "Webtops" will make the role of Web browser increase, while the operating system has less chance of "strutting" anymore.

Firms like Salesforce.com and YouOS have cherished the ambition of building Web operating systems for a long time. Even Microsoft is not an exception, although Windows is one of the company's two key cash leads. A team of Windows Live Core engineers is currently responsible for developing Web services running on the Internet environment.

Source: CNET Last month, Laszlo Systems introduced Laszlo Webtop, a software that allows users to run a variety of desktop-style applications within a browser window. For example, you can open Web mail in parallel with contact list control software and IM chat in the same window.

According to David Temkin, Laszlo's chief technology officer, this approach (which requires both server and client software) is more advanced than interactive Web portals, where users can download mini-applications. (term called widget or gadget).

" They're more like a full-fledged operating system than a Widget portal ," Temkin said. " Laszlo's flash-based applications are highly interactive and can share information with each other. They can also be programmed to access the internal database of businesses ."

Mini application

If Laszlo Webtop is aimed at customers who are big corporations and businesses, mini-applications will be launched to serve individual users. For example, Goovy last year launched YourMinis, a Web service where users can combine various mini-information applications such as blogs and RSS feeds.

Similarly, DesktopTwo is one of many services that allows users to access their own data and emails from any computer. TransMedia's Glide OS hopes to re-create a list of popular desktop applications such as word processing and email within a single browser window.

Not only does the web service provide users with a package, some technology companies also offer Webtop application programming interfaces (APIs) for the software development community. As a result, thousands of new, free mini-applications have been launched.

Microsoft, the king of desktop software, has also begun to build an API set for them. The leader of this project, no one else, is the Chief Architect Ray Ozzie.

No proper operating system yet

But what people find at Microsoft is that the software giant is just trying to build a "Software plus service" combination, not a Web operating system literally. Europe is also understandable, because Microsoft cannot cut itself into flesh and let Windows revenue decline.

Microsoft dared not venture into the Web operating system, but YouOS did. The 0.1 version of this operating system includes a graphical window system, hardware-software interaction, dedicated memory for running programs and an integrated development environment.

In other words, many of the true features of an operating system have been blown into the core of a Web application.

" We want to build a place where you can access data, run applications from not just any browser, but from any device, " said Jeff Mellen, YouOS co-founder. declare.

Trong Cam