 Philosophy of Multi-OS
|  | Author: Steve Jones Date: 03/06/2008 09:01:07 |
Our Philosophy
Our philosophy without trying to sound too grand is that a user just wants to run the best software for a task and that the best or most suitable software does not run on one individual operating system platform. So why not have all of the platforms you need available all of the time and not limit yourself to one platform.
Windows as a platform has probably the largest list of software available, but most people would agree that the Mac OSX has some of the most user friendly and software tools available. On top of this Time Machine is a wonderful system that alone is worth having the Mac in the Windows system for backing up user files alone.
3-Pack came out of an original project called the Siamese System which although now the choice of name seems unfortunate, created an environment where this working together was possible. However, as you will read in the history this project stalled for a long while but is now being re-launched as we believe it is needed now more than ever.
3-Pack is a first step to hopefully show the benefits of a universal application and operating system that can run any software and supports all hardware. Whilst this is at the moment only a dream, the 3-Pack does allow the impression of this kind of working environment. This is not as far fetched as you may think, look at the Apple Mac, with its universal binary application allowing applications to be developed to run on PowerPC and Intel. If the main OS developers supported a similar system, then software manufacturers could write universal drivers and universal software that would run on any OS platform.
In reality, this is unlikely to happen but think of it like the software being the music you want to listen to and the Operating System being the MP3 player. Then you would choose the player with the best facilities and run the application you want. Software "could" be made cheaper with a single distribution for any OS but most software suppliers would not pass on the savings in practise.
In the meantime this is a pipe dream, but if the users demand it then it may happen. After all Linux came out of a need for a low cost computer vision with free software, and it has grown to be a major force by the users. However, a lack of a "Universal Application model" means that there is less money to be spent on free software. Would it not be good for people who can pay for the software for usage that generates revenue to pay more for the software, and those that use for personal usage get it cheaper along the same idea as modern budget airlines. However, that is perhaps asking too much for now.
In the meantime, our hardware is probably out of the hands of most users but we have descriptions of how to build a 3-Pack type environment using off the shelf components and multiple computer boxes. We hope it will inspire people to expect more from the big OS developers.
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