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What even is an OS now?

310 points · 479 comments · fratellobigio

  1. okdiendiendjefn · · focus · HN ↗
    What it has always been. Nothing has changed in this regard.
    1. tptacek · · focus · HN ↗
      Oh, ok. I guess computer science is finished, then. I should have known. It's not like there's any evidence that it's been blown wide open recently.

      (The irony is that all the reading that's gone into our design is like, old CSAIL papers. Maybe it's true! Maybe everything we're doing is just crate-digging through old settled computer science. That would be on brand. I should find a way to work Athena into it. Maybe we'll use Zephyr for messaging.)

      1. isicjeicjeif · · focus · HN ↗
        Are you reducing computer science to… just OSs?

        I guess it really is over if this is what professionals (supposedly) seem to think.

        OP is right though, an OS remains an OS, same as it’s always been. What’s changed is how we interact with it and what we lay on top of it. Nothing magical or philosophical about it.

        1. tptacek · · focus · HN ↗
          I didn't say there was no such thing as an OS.
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