Hello all,
I am presently starting to write about L4; I was an admin in financial technology from 1999 to 2002 and I specifically worked to integrate OSs to enable the workforces of the world, and I also attempted to help talented youth learn to operate systems, and also hoped to help impoverished nations join the Information Society.
Here is my personal website where my writing will be presented. You can see my motivations: http://thinman.com (it is presently in its "capstone degree project" format, which earned me an A. I will be attempting to evolve it in the near future into a mix of operating systems, hardware platforms, education, and fine art to create the kind of mental diversity we find in a healthy society.
In 2000, I strongly felt that Linux needed to evolve, and that new OSs needed to be introduced to the public domain. I looked at ExOS, and I liked it a lot, but it had the problem of being tied to only a single CPU architecture.
In 2002 I got fired along w/ all my technology collaborators and fellow club members because of the tech crash, and then I also started to suffer the traumatic after affects from being a volunteer rescuer during the terror attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001. Probably a hundred or more people I knew were killed, including 1/2 of my local fire department whom I knew personally. Also former coworkers of mine as well as many of the Sun techs and sales staff I knew had perished. The Sybase meeting rooms that had been frequent meeting places for my various clubs has also been destroyed.
What I did afterwards to get past my grief issues was become a long haul truck driver, and I drove the roads of the US for a few years, which actually was an incredibly enlightening experience. In 2005, when I was about to start investing in my own truck fleet, I had an epiphany -- to teach middle school kids science, and especially technology. I believe that middle school and high school students, from my experiences, are the best potential technology core from the perspective of the future-- and they work for free.
Also, I should mention that many people are saying that OS development in general has slowed to a near halt. This appears to me to be so, though all of you involved in L4 are not to blame! I feel that L4, as the leading new OS, can be a focus for, or perhaps locus of, all the things we need to do, and all the reflections we need to make based on the nearly two decades of successful, yet ultimately heartbreaking experiences, in the new Information Society.
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance, John
Ho John,
Interesting article. Looks like you've had some truly traumatic experiences.
I'm not sure what to comment on, as you aren't really asking any questions or make controversial statements. All I can comment on is:
On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 11:54:57 -0400, "John van V." john.van.v@gmail.com said:
JvV> [...]
JvV> In 2005, when I was about to start JvV> investing in my own truck fleet, I had an epiphany -- to teach middle school JvV> kids science, and especially technology. I believe that middle school and high JvV> school students, from my experiences, are the best potential technology core JvV> from the perspective of the future-- and they work for free.
The importance of investing into school kids cannot be underestimated, although I see them as the future technologist, not a free work force.
Particularly in the present situation where in many industrialised countries kids are losing interest in technology and science. If this trend continues we will create a society with a very strong class structure, where the majority has no understanding of technology and limited access to its benefits, and even less understanding of its dangers. Needless to say, this is also a big threat for the economic competitiveness of those countries.
I have been tangentially involved with outreach activities at UNSW. And the scary thing is that in high school, it is essentially too late. The kids have already decided whether they are interested in science and maths, and those who have decided they don't like it are essentially already a lost cause. Regrettably, this is particularly true with girls, who at this age are very sensitive to peer pressure, and are being told by their peers that maths isn't a girl thing. In Australia, there are also studies showing that high school career advisers are also discouraging girls from science and engineering.
Essentially, the battle is already lost in high school, it has to start earlier. Our experiences with running workshop for year-five pupils (especially girls) are much better, they are still open at this stage. This is the time where the interest needs to be nurtured.
JvV> Also, I should mention that many people are saying that OS development in JvV> general has slowed to a near halt. This appears to me to be so, though all of JvV> you involved in L4 are not to blame! I feel that L4, as the leading new OS, can JvV> be a focus for, or perhaps locus of, all the things we need to do, and all the JvV> reflections we need to make based on the nearly two decades of successful, yet JvV> ultimately heartbreaking experiences, in the new Information Society.
The observation that "systems research is irrelevant" has been made before by Rob Pike (http://herpolhode.com/rob/utah2000.pdf) and indeed, OS research was by many considered dead a few years ago. This isn't the situation at the moment, though. For one, Linux has changed the game by making OS code much more accessible, students can now again do research on real systems. Then virtualisation has created a lot of interest and activity in OS issues. However, Rob's observation that people are still largely using the same 40-year-old technology is still true (and virtualisation is essentially used to hack around the limitations of broken operating systems).
The reality, though, is that some of this is the inevitable result of the commoditisation of PCs, and the resulting huge inertia in the basic architecture, processor as well as OS. I don't think there's much hope in changing the PC world in the foreseeable future.
Embedded systems, however, are a different ball game. The embedded systems industry, in different verticals at different times, is realising that they have reached the use-by date of their RTOS technology. Hence they are forced into a change of OS technology, and this is the chance to put in something that's good. I sure believe that this is L4, and that's the reason we have set up Open Kernel Labs.
If you are interested in where we believe things are heading, there is a paper in this month's Operating Systems Review.
Gernot
l4-hackers@os.inf.tu-dresden.de
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Gernot Heiser -
John van V.