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Cloudflare OS: an open platform for agents, apps, and work

641 points · 315 comments · speckx

  1. fnoef · · focus · HN ↗
    "OS for work" - like, what does it mean? OS is operating system, it runs on a hardware and provides you to operate the system. I hate when companies destroy the English language with vibe invented terms.
    1. lern_too_spel · · focus · HN ↗
      An operating system manages access to shared hardware (disk, CPU, memory, networking, display, etc. on a single machine OS). MS-DOS mainly handled shared access to disk via a file system abstraction, hence the name. The naming of Cloudflare OS makes sense to me.
      1. hashstring · · focus · HN ↗
        It doesn’t schedule tasks, doesn’t deal with physical memory, it doesn’t initialize hardware or interface with it on a low level. This is just an app that lives in user-space, nothing more.

        Calling this an OS is like calling Gmail an OS.

        It doesn’t make any sense.

        But since OSes are notoriously difficult to define [1], half of America added AI slop to diets that were already repulsive to begin with, regurgitates the chyme, and passionately feeds it to their peers, you may even get away with it nowadays.

        [1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;os.ecci.ucr.ac.cr&#x2F;slides&#x2F;Andrew-S.-Tanenbaum-Modern-Operating-Systems.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;os.ecci.ucr.ac.cr&#x2F;slides&#x2F;Andrew-S.-Tanenbaum-Modern-...

        1. kentonv · · focus · HN ↗
          &gt; It doesn’t schedule tasks,

          It absolutely does.

          &gt; doesn’t deal with physical memory,

          Well it sort of does. It allocates sandboxes and schedules apps in them. It handles loading code from storage and turning it into running programs with state.

          &gt; it doesn’t initialize hardware or interface with it on a low level.

          Instead of devices it manages interfacing with external services (Gatekeepers are like drivers).

          I didn&#x27;t choose the name but I do think there&#x27;s a fair analogy here even on a technical level.

          1. palata · · focus · HN ↗
            I would have suggested CloudStorm :-).

            Or &quot;COSIOS&quot;: CloudflareOS Is Not an OS.

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