Internet Operating System

There has been some hype lately around executable internet applications. Some folks also call it Internet/Web Operating System. So what is new ? Don't we have java applet, java webstart and active-x binaries that are downloaded from the server in real time.

No. This time the story is different. There are two different cases :

1) Any application can be streamed to an execution engine installed at the client from the server. Internet access to real thick applications. The application has to be written in a special way. For this new web platform or as the founders call it the Web OS. The developer has to separate the client and server pieces. The beauty is that the developer will not have to worry about the network. He will write the application for the local machine and the application server (the innovation) will take care of the delivery across the wire. The communication is actually objects and not XML. For the more curious here is a startup trying to create Executable Internet.

Finally the browser will run a new protocol something like ek to access the application.
ek://ek.ektasis.com/jchessboard.JChessBoard (you will need to install the client framework to access this application)

2) Browser based Application Delivery : I heard Srini's concept at the startup school event i attended last week at Stanford. They are trying to create a framework for writing applications that can be deployed easily on the browser. We have seen applications like calender, writely and iRows that move thick applications to the browser. YouOS is trying to make this process easy.

Browser is the new desktop. All applications run inside the browser. There is a new interface to create such applications provided by YouOS. Since the application is written for YouOS it can run on any OS. Some examples. The idea of compiling programs online and in a browser is interesting.

I laughed at this new notion of Operating Systems. Especially because i work for a company that really knows about Operating Systems.

People are really high on the software stack these days !