Operating system design: towards a holistic approach?

Abstract

Recent years have marked the beginning of a new era for operating systems. Distributed computing is clearly one dimension of this. We argue that qualitative issues add a second major dimension. These changes will have a profound effect on operating system design. In this short paper, we present a personal view of what the response to these changes should be. The argument is supported by our experiences in the design of the Cosmos distributed operating system.