Editing 1508: Operating Systems
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | In this comic, [[Randall]] gives an | + | {{incomplete|More fine tuning needed?}} |
+ | In this comic, [[Randall]] gives an overview of past, present and (speculatively) future of the Operating Systems running in his house at any given time. Notably, because Randall is a technologically obsessed person, there is rarely only one OS running in his household. The timeline tracks how Operating Systems have come and gone over the years, and the gradual shift from desktop Operating Systems to mobile can be observed. Beyond the present day, we see some of Randall's humorous predictions as to which technologies and companies will dominate the Operating System landscape in the future. | ||
− | + | Previous and current systems: | |
− | *{{w|MS-DOS}} (Microsoft Disk Operating System): The | + | *{{w|MS-DOS}} (Microsoft Disk Operating System): The standard, command-line-based, OS for IBM PC-compatible computers in the 80s and early 90s. |
− | *Apple's {{w|Mac OS}} (Macintosh Operating System): The OS of Apple's Macintosh line of computers. Randall's bar indicates that he stopped using Macs in 2001, | + | *{{w|Microsoft Windows}}: The standard GUI-based OS for IBM PC-compatible computers from the mid 80s to the present day. Early versions operated as shells on top of MS-DOS rather than stand-alone OSes in their own right, explaining the overlap in those two bars. Randall's bar indicates that he first started using Windows in the era of Windows 3.1 and stopped in 2007, presumably switching to Linux as his main OS. |
− | *{{w|Linux}}: | + | *Apple's {{w|Mac OS}} (Macintosh Operating System): The OS of Apple's Macintosh line of computers. Randall's bar indicates that he stopped using Macs in 2001, a time when the fortunes of Apple were in decline and Macintoshes were "niche" computers. |
− | *{{w|OS X}} (Macintosh Operating System v10): The successor OS of Apple's Macintosh line of computers. Although it was sometimes marketed as merely the 10th version of the earlier Mac OS, it was largely a new product. The bar indicates Randall's renewed use of Macintosh computers in 2009 | + | *{{w|Linux}}: An alternate, free, Unix-like OS. Randall's bar indicates that he likely used it part-time starting from 1999 (probably dual-booting his PC with Windows) until abandoning Windows in 2007 to use Linux full-time. This timing coincides with the release of Microsoft's controversial {{w|Windows Vista}} and the advent of more user-friendly Linux distributions. |
− | *{{w| | + | *{{w|OS X}} (Macintosh Operating System v10): The successor OS of Apple's Macintosh line of computers. Although it was sometimes marketed as merely the 10th version of the earlier Mac OS, it was largely a new product. The bar indicates Randall's renewed use of Macintosh computers in 2009 when Apple was in a much better financial state than it was in 2001. |
− | *Apple's {{w|iOS}}: The OS of {{w|iPhone}}, {{w|iPad}}, | + | *{{w|Android_(operating_system)|Android}}: The OS of Android phones and tablets. Randall is indicating that he has at least one of these devices. |
+ | *Apple's {{w|iOS}}: The OS of {{w|iPhone}}, {{w|iPad}}, and {{w|Apple TV}}. Randall is indicating that he also has at least one of these. | ||
His predictions for the future include: | His predictions for the future include: | ||
− | *2018: That {{w|OS X}} | + | *2018: That {{w|OS X}} and {{w|iOS}} will merge. |
− | + | *2019: That [http://github.com/runtimejs/runtime#readme someone will succeed] in coding an entire operating system in {{w|Javascript}}. | |
− | *2022: That there' | + | *2022: That there'd be an OS based on {{w|Tinder_(application)|Tinder}}. |
− | *2024: That | + | *2024: That the various devices from {{w|Nest Labs}} would be expanded so much that there's an entire operating system for them. |
− | *2029: That | + | *2029: That {{w|Elon Musk}} will be up to something ambitious and futuristic. |
− | *2030: That {{w| | + | *2030: That {{w|Disk_operating_system|DOS}} would make a comeback, but only in an ironic fashion (maybe because there would be no more disks left for it to operate from). |
− | *2034: That | + | *2034: That ordinary people will be deploying {{w|Unmanned_combat_aerial_vehicle|weaponized drones}} in their homes. |
− | *2042: Human civilization comes to a fiery end | + | *2042: Human civilization comes to a fiery end (maybe due to the unholy combination of weaponized drones and whatever the Elon Musk Project had developed). Another possible explanation is that human civilization will be wiped out by an artificial super-intelligence, superior to human intelligence, as Elon Musk, Ray Kurzweil, Bill Gates and many tech pundits foresee that 2045 will be the year to see such technology becoming real, and as Elon Musk, Bill Gates and many other tech pundits fear that it will be the extinction of all life on earth, as explained [http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-2.html on this page]. |
− | *2059: | + | *2059: That the infamously and perennially late [http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html GNU/Hurd] OS will finally be released after human civilization has been wiped out. The joke is that GNU/Hurd began to be developed in 1990, and while it was expected to be released in a relatively short time, even now only unstable builds have been released. So Randall is saying that it will finally be ready to run in his house a decade or two after the end of humanity, i.e., that a production-ready version will never be released. Or Randall could be saying that, though human ''civilization'' doesn't exist any more, humanity still lives on, and GNU/Hurd will be the only system smart enough to be picked up by this post-catastrophe generation. |
− | The title text refers to | + | The title text refers to {{w|Richard Stallman}}, the founder of the {{w|Free Software movement}} and the {{w|GNU}} and {{w|Hurd}} projects. The survivors of the fire that ended the human civilization has found a slightly burned (singed) picture of him. And they can either see directly from the picture or they already know off Stallman, that this was a man that really believed in something. In this case it was the free software. |
− | + | Randall has made several comics about free software and also about [[:Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman|Richard Stallman]. See for an instance of both [[225: Open Source]], [[344: 1337: Part 4]] and [[345: 1337: Part 5]]. | |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[ | + | :[At the top of the panel:] |
− | + | :'''Operating Systems''' | |
− | + | :running in my house | |
:[At the bottom there is time-line that runs from 1990 to 2066. It has small indicators for every year, larger for every 5 years and largest for every 10 years. Below the 10 year indicators are written the years. Also the year 2015 is marked:] | :[At the bottom there is time-line that runs from 1990 to 2066. It has small indicators for every year, larger for every 5 years and largest for every 10 years. Below the 10 year indicators are written the years. Also the year 2015 is marked:] | ||
Line 44: | Line 46: | ||
:[Level 1 from 1988 to 1998 (extends a little left past the beginning of the time-line but not off panel):] | :[Level 1 from 1988 to 1998 (extends a little left past the beginning of the time-line but not off panel):] | ||
− | + | :MS DOS | |
:[Level 2 from 1993 to 2007:] | :[Level 2 from 1993 to 2007:] | ||
− | + | :Windows | |
:[Level 3 from 1994 to 2001:] | :[Level 3 from 1994 to 2001:] | ||
− | + | :Mac OS | |
:[Level 1 from 1999 to 2018:] | :[Level 1 from 1999 to 2018:] | ||
− | + | :Linux | |
− | :[Level 2 from 2009 to 2023. On the way the bar merges with iOS around | + | :[Level 2 from 2009 to 2023. On the way the bar merges with iOS around 2019:] |
− | + | :OS X | |
:[Level 3 from 2009 to 2016:] | :[Level 3 from 2009 to 2016:] | ||
− | + | :Android | |
− | :[Level 4 from 2013 to | + | :[Level 4 from 2013 to 2023. On the way to 2023 the bar moves down past Android to merge with OS X around 2019:] |
− | + | :iOS | |
:[Level 1 from 2018 to 2028. The text is written in square brackets:] | :[Level 1 from 2018 to 2028. The text is written in square brackets:] | ||
− | + | :[Something].js | |
:[Level 3 from 2022 to 2029:] | :[Level 3 from 2022 to 2029:] | ||
− | + | :TinderOS | |
:[Level 2 from 2023 to 2032:] | :[Level 2 from 2023 to 2032:] | ||
− | + | :Nest | |
:[Level 1 from 2028 to 2041:] | :[Level 1 from 2028 to 2041:] | ||
− | + | :Elon Musk Project: | |
:[Level 3 from 2030 to 2036:] | :[Level 3 from 2030 to 2036:] | ||
− | + | :DOS, but ironically | |
:[Level 2 from 2034 to 2041:] | :[Level 2 from 2034 to 2041:] | ||
− | + | :Blood Drone | |
− | :[This is not a bar, but the text (in three lines) is in a double bar-height (level 1-2) square bracket. The bracket extends from 2042 to 2051:] | + | :[This is not a bar, but the text (in three lines) is in a, double bar-height (level 1-2), square bracket. The bracket extends from 2042 to 2051:] |
− | : | + | :Human civilization ends in fire |
:[Level 1 from 2059 going past the end of the panel past 2066:] | :[Level 1 from 2059 going past the end of the panel past 2066:] | ||
− | + | :GNU/Hurd | |
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
[[Category:Charts]] | [[Category:Charts]] | ||
− | |||
[[Category:Computers]] | [[Category:Computers]] | ||
− | |||
[[Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman]] | ||
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