[o2bfree]

“As the need for an OS disappears into the sunset .......”

OK I’ll bite... so if you don’t have an OS running locally, how will computer users do any of the following:

1. Create home movies
2. Photo Processing using Photoshop
3. Programming in the language of your choice
4. Rip DVDs, store files on an HTPC
5. Play PC games
6. Store sensitive data locally, on an encrypted drive

The list goes on and on.

[tophat9000]

Thes seem to be a major misunderstanding going on as to what an "OS" is vs the services that might be interrogated in to the "OS" vs have the same service as a stand alone app

All on the following are not required to be part of the OS to be and OS ...DOS was and OS (Disk "OS") and did none of the below ...

1. Create home movies
2. Photo Processing using Photoshop
3. Programming in the language of your choice
4. Rip DVDs, store files on an HTPC
5. Play PC games
6. Store sensitive data locally, on an encrypted drive

Stripping out services in an OS does not mean it no longer an OS and the fact that an OS can be slim down and services removed does not mean you no longer need an OS...

The bootstrap loader is going to load something that is an minimum OS to get at a least basic I/O and user interface up

Ever a bootstrap loader in a diskless system booting over the network is still loading an OS

And due to local disk space being cheap and fast vs loading everyone over the WAN.. the local OS (even if the world go to free Linux like OS's) will always have most daily services built in to it.

(As an Network engineer it nuts to think or trust the wire to total replace local storage)