Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
RE: Linux changes the economic model for OSes
Author: Paul Howson Posted: 10/16/1999; 5:18:47 PM Topic: Today's scriptingNews Outline Msg #: 12092 (In response to 12082) Prev/Next: 12091 / 12093
"... actually doing source code integration of Frontier with an operating system. That was actually the original idea for Frontier ... The idea of a deeply integrated outliner and object database is something that someday will make a new level of OS possible."Ha! You echo my own thoughts exactly. The more I use Frontier, the more I keep thinking along these lines. And not only should OS's be built this way (at least their "higher level" functions), but applications too.
This is very close to Guido van Rossum's concept of "Computer Programming for Everybody", where he envisages a new kind of programming environment and way of teaching programming that will enable many more people to do programming and be able to customise their software to meet their particular needs. A corollary of this is the need to be able to "get under the hood" of software (just like you - or a mechanic - can get under the hood of a car, see what's happening and fix it or modify it). Guido is working on a project to build just such a system - it's described on the python web site.
I think Frontier is a overlooked gem which could contribute many useful (proven) ideas to such a project. The ODB, editing code in outlines, the browsable persistent name space and strong connections into the OS, to name a few.
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