Re: PC--What is it good for?

On Dec 9, 11:03 am, "Ken from Chicago" <kwicker1b_nos...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
> By PC I mean "personal computer", be it Windows OS, Mac OS, Linux OS or
even
> Amiga OS, what are personal computers good for? Considering the backlash
> against Windows Vista, I was wondering, what's the point? Aside from
> increased security, there seemed to be little reason to upgrade other
than
> semi-transparent window interfaces, that 3d task windows interface and
video
> wallpaper. Four gigs of ram for that? What's the point? And then I
> considered the question more generally:
>
> Long a stable of science fiction, yet what's left conceptually and
> pragmatically for home or personal computers to do? should do?
>
> What functionality is there left to put into their base operating
systems?

Dividing computers into "base operating systems" and "applications" is
of limited use.  It's a commercial / packaging distinction, not a
technical one.  Technically, you can take Windows and rip out Internet
Explorer, Media Player, and the "shell" - start menu, task bar, window
frames & decorations - and replace them with your own.  Even then,
you're still using the Win32 API which sits in userspace, much of it
implemented outside the privileged kernel which actually accesses
hardware.

As far as most users are concerned, Google web search - or maybe the
Microsoft web search - is effectively part of their "base operating
system", even though it doesn't run on their computer!

Step back and consider the system as a whole.  E.g. if most of the
applications you actually use require administrator access to run,
they're going to bypass most of the security provided by the "base
operating system" - and thats not a hypothetical example.