On this topic -
I think that as long as there are applications built to run on a full service OS - there will be full service OS - and as long as the current body of applications consumed by enterprises - small, medium, large, and very large alike - the full service OS will be here awhile. I am constantly reminded of this when I hear from enterprises how many NT4 they still run - because that's what the application needs.
If you are creating new applications with new tools for new environments ( e.g. force.com, or azure ) - the OS shouldn't and doesn't matter.
I think if you have created apps in a development tool chain where the runtime environment is all the app see's - the OS shouldn't and doesn't matter either.
However - if you are an enterprise and want to accelerate adoption of an IaaS cloud - and you happen to have lots of windows apps - it seems to me that you can't readily create a Windows Appliance w/o breaking MSFT licensing.
And if you are providing an IaaS model - e.g. EC2 - and try to provide the runtime environement - IIS/ASP.Net/SQL Server - you are bound to get it wrong for many customers - because their Apps depend on specific .rev instances of each of the underlying components.
This is where the idea for a wrapper comes - a concept where you can wrap each of the components separately ( e.g. each .rev of the front end, app server, db, and other common services ) - with just enough configuration so they can run on a given OS.
The actual application - also wrapped - just points to each of these components - and all of this can be assembled and instantiated on the fly.
So if my app needs a different .rev of SQL Server in the Amazon AMI with IIS and ASP.net - no problem - it grabs it on the fly.
The wrapper - this will be similar to App Virtualization technology - which does a great job for desktop/client applications - but to work in the cloud, needs to virtualize idenity ( like the host name, networking, etc ) , services, etc.
Perhaps this is a topic for a new thread.
-----Original Message-----
From: cloud-computing@googlegroups.com [mailto:cloud-computing@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of trimark
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 10:57 AM
To: Cloud Computing
Subject: [ Cloud Computing ] Re: Role of Windows Appliances and Cloud
Barbara
You ask what is the future of full service OS's and what next.
I'd say this, that its pretty obvious that services will be
increasingly provided by the hypervisor and virtualztion layer, esp
[ecially networking and storage, but also possible virtual memory, I/O
etc.
If the OS running on the hypervisor provides the same service and
doesn't do this WITH the hypervisor then it will be inefficient, and
generate overhead. There are a few possible solutions to this, one is
for the OS NOT to provide the same function, thats unlikely with full
OS's, or as part of initialization, they recognise they are running in
a virtualized environment, and cede that function to the hypervisor.
The latter makes more sense, but requires compatibility between the
hypervisor function and the OS funtion at the application level. For
higher level functions and new technology, thats easy. For lower level
functions this is less likely. It also removes much of the opportunity
for the OS to provide differentiated services.
Back to your question, what of the future for full service os?
I'd predict that most will do their damdest to link themselves with
their own hypervisors. In that way they can continue to provide
differentiated services that allow them to continue to be sold at a
premium. However, these OS's will generally lag behind emerging
composite OS's, where the hypervisor and the OS are made from a
networked, interconnected set of services, with little generation or
overhead between their services.
It would be interesting to know where/how you think IBM solved this
decade ago? As I see it, the only place IBM really solved this was in
VM/CMS. Where there was a strict hypervisor/virtualization layer that
had unique calls for functions, and the CMS OS which developed into a
purely virtualized OS and couldn't run without VM.
Other IBM implementations including AIX on Power did this to a lesser
degree, but really still are full function OS's that use
virtualization sparingly as their host.
We are likely to see an effort obsfucate the OS to providing grouped
higher level services that are interfaces into homogenous full service
OS's, these will provide a single point of automation, management,
etc. as well as scheduling and recovery. In this way, the full
function OS remains and the function that you are looking for from a
cloud is provided by a layer on top of the OS, rather than underneath
the OS at teh hypervisor layer. From a management, operations
perspective there is little differtence. From an apllication and
operational efficiency perspective there is a significant difference.
On Dec 23, 5:24 pm, "Barbara Bour" <barb...@principiainc.com> wrote:
> The complexity that is introduced by black box hypervisors troubles me. I
> feel the solve a problem already solved by IBM and other big box vendors
> decades ago.
>
> So, with that in mind, the whole thing begs the question, what is the future
> of the full service OS?
> Do they morph into a meta OS, that can function in a manner like a
> hypervisor OR full service OS or both (in essence something like a mainframe
> OS).
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