Here is some more information about my current ongoing project, I want to answer some questions here, and shine some light as to what exactly it is.
Whatever happened to OS X Quicksilver, and/or Spiral?
These two, well actually only thing, I have stopped developing these things for multiple reasons. In case you don’t know, these were planned as the successors to OS X Mercury. Spiral was in its latest build running off a database, which was fine. Essentially I was planning on a full-blown web-based desktop with everything, like a full blown end-user desktop. Thing is that I not only couldn’t use the design of Macs anymore, like the Dock and Menu bar, I even more feared that people might be able to hack into other user’s accounts or even folders, and I didn’t want people to lose important data, or data being looked at. I am not a security expert, and I was on my own. So this is why this project is stopped. I can put on the latest source code before stopping it online if you want.
So what is COSMOS then?
It’s an abbreviation first of all, and the current project. It stands for:
Complete Open Source Material* Operating System
* Material as in Software and Hardware.
Slated to be an operating system instead of a web based desktop, this project is more promising and more secure for that matter. COSMOS currently runs of a FreeBSD base, version 6.2 to be exact. Later I will post more details on the layering of the system core.
Ok, so that’s COSMOS itself. Unix/Linux flavors are not new, what makes yours stand out?
The user interface. It is written entirely in Squeak and thus the language Smalltalk-80. In essence, it is an all new user interface coming with its own applications, the framework for this is written by me completely from scratch. I have chosen this as a platform because it is practically endlessly portable, no SDK or API is required. I have posted some screenshots already, where you can see how the user interface is progressing.
Right. Do you know when it’s gonna be finished?
Not yet, but if I can write things as fast as I could in the past three weeks, it will be quicker than I thought. I’ll let you all know.
You mentioned hardware as well. Does this mean your system comes with a machine as well?
If you like, yes. I am exploring the possibility to have COSMOS installed on a machine that is specifically configured for the system. This machine will have open specifications, meaning that I will outline its components, so that you can build one just like it or similar, and then install the system yourself.
I see. So it’s all open, right? It doesn’t cost me anything, correct?
That is correct. Everything in this project is open - the software, the hardware, the code of the user interface, the code of FreeBSD is already open… it won’t cost you anything (unless you want to build a machine for COSMOS).
Sounds pretty cool, but will it blend?
Uhm… software doesn’t blend. Hard drives, graphic cards, processors, conductors as well as DVDs however, will.
Thanks, let us know updates, okay?
Sure thing.
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