I just read this story of a Microsoft project code named Midori, which could replace the need for having an operating system in your PC.

According to the story, the Midori project would eliminate the need for having an OS running on your local personal computer. The idea is to take advantage of the power of the internet and the vast amount of applications that have sprang up. Applications would be running in a virtual container of sorts there by eliminating the need to have them exist on your physical computer. This allows the “run anywhere” model that was Java.

In this new Web 2.0 world, this approach makes sense. There are now multitude of internet applications that are in use by common internet users, most of whom have very little to no computer knowledge. They can use these applications without the need to worry about which OS these applications are running in the background; it doesn’t matter if it is Window, Mac, or Linux (Unix). All the user really cares about is that the application does its job.

That said, I don’t know about having a virtual OS though. I can certainly like that fact that one day I woke up and see the day where the memory hogs like Windows OS and Windows Applications are a thing of the past. Did you remember 20 years ago (around 1986), Windows ran in a PC that has only 256-512k of memory? That’s kilobytes of memory – not mega bytes or gigabtyes that we need today just to run Windows and applications.

There would not be a need to buy more powerful CPUs and huge memory modules. No more upgrades; or less of a need to. That would be nice.

But with the internet still in infancy, it is be immature to suggest that there will always an internet connection available. If this virtual OS is like the network boot, where the OS is found inside a private network, someone has to host these virtual OS. It will become an hosting issue as there will be billions of PCs trying to connect to a few data centers that host these operating systems.

Yes, the companies who provide these types of virtual operating systems will make millions. They will charge a subscription fee for using their service. Then again, think of how much infrastructure they have to have in place in order to serve the need. It is overwhelming.

So I think it would rather makes sense to think of your personal computer as a virtual terminal, the type that were in use since the days of Unix. These are still in wide spread use in colleges and universities. All it is needed is a terminal  where users could login and then start to run applications that run on mainframes or super computers that have the power to serve multiple users.

Anyway, go checkout the full story here: Midori project.