Dr. Dobb's Journal March 2007

It All Comes Down to the OS

By Jonathan Erickson

So, my favorite story involving operating systems—doesn't everyone have one?—is this: I was working at Tandy, doing documentation for the multiuser version of the TRS-DOS operating system, and on tap was a really important demo for Jon Shirley, vice president of computer merchandising. The demo was going as slick as a whistle until Mr. Shirley walked into the lab, typed something on the keyboard—and kablooey, the system crashed! Mr. Shirley started yelling, "I hate operating systems! I wish operating systems didn't exist!" or something to that effect. But that isn't the funny part of the story. The funny part is that Mr. Shirley left Tandy shortly thereafter to become president of Microsoft, a company synonymous with operating systems.

Alas, when it comes to operating systems, not much has changed. Don't think so? Then take a look at an October 1992 BYTE magazine article (www.ddj.com/dept/windows/196701928), in which the critical operating systems issues of the day involved multitasking, virtual memory, security, filesystems, and efficient system administration. Sound familiar? It should, because they're still hot ticket items.

As luck would have it, frequent DDJ contributor and former BYTE editor Tom Thompson wrote part of that article, which led to a recent then-and-now session on the state of operating systems. Here's some of what Tom had to say:

• Virtualization? A good technology because it lets you use legacy software. Let's face it, it's going to be cheaper to virtualize things than rewrite legacy software.
• Security. Yeah, that hoo-doo. The problem is, for every improvement that's made, the black hats are writing countermeasures or discovering new vulnerabilities.
• Maintainability. Given security problems, you're going to be always downloading patches. The problem is, at some point, that can make things worse. Then you've got a screwed-up system or you become wary of adding new security updates for fear it's going to break something. I added the latest Mac security patch the other day (after doing all the usual disk maintenance procedures), and now I can't play audio CDs in the PowerBook's internal SuperDrive. I can play audio CDs on an external Firewire SuperDrive and DVDs in the internal drive. Just not audio. Why? Who knows? Should I try to fix it? I'd probably just make things worse. Any operating system is going to have to be designed to remain stable after patches upon patches upon patches have been applied to it.
• Easier ways to automate tasks. I also recall writing about component software in BYTE many years ago. OLE and OpenDoc. It turns out the answer to that problem lay in the protocols, not the APIs. HTTP/HTML trumped everything because it was simple, it was open, worked, and did it all over the network. Scripting languages are the rage because nowadays, we're not trying to build something from the ground up: Instead, we use the scripts to glue things like remote interfaces and databases together, along with some logic. But it could be better. Ever try reading uncommented Perl? Yes, it's powerful, but like C, it can be cryptic—and its low-level flexibility means you might be quietly jamming strings some place you'd rather not.

Granted, some things have changed, among them the onset of distributed computing and the overwhelming demand for real-time support. Whether dealing in online currency transactions or dialing 911 on your cell phone, the need for real time is, well, real. Of course, this brings with it greater complexity on the part of the OS.

Operating systems can command headlines like few other topics in the computer industry. Don't think so? How many times have you seen "Windows Vista" in bold type recently? What's with Motorola's backing away from SymbianOS in favor of Linux? Or when will GoogleOS hit the streets? And what the heck is a WebOS (okay, it's a virtual OS that runs inside a web browser, mimicking a desktop OS) and why are they popping up faster than Whac-A-Mole moles?

Love 'em or hate 'em, it always comes down to the operating system because, as BYTE said 15 years ago, "...hardware has become a commodity, and the operating system has become the vehicle for the competition." And even Jon Shirley had to put up with them in the end.

Jonathan Erickson

Editor-in-Chief

jerickson@ddj.com