Kosh is a development on the themes and ideas raised by the
Oasys concept operating system whilst
developing it for a new market. It has strong links with the
current Amiga market, being developed by two well known
celebrities, Fleecy Moss (formerly Developer Relations and
Strategic Projects Manager at Amiga Inc) and Dave Haynie (hardware
engineer at Commodore). The name is a homage to the Babylon 5
character and is an acronym for Kommunity Operating System and
Hardware.
KOSH attempts to create a market where there is no individual
company in control of the destiny of the system, as Amiga Inc is
with the Amiga or Microsoft are with the Windows market. Like the
Amiga their goal is a unified hardware and software platform that
is as diverse as current Linux compatible systems. They aim to
create a community atmosphere where the individuals opinion
matters. Their website goes to great lengths to criticise the
dictatorships held by certain individuals, people like Bill Gates,
who control the market for their own benefit rather than the market
they are supposed to have created the product for. The project
organisation has drawn considerably on the Linux operating system,
but highlights inherent problems with this design, describing the
development organisation as anarchistic with a lack of
direction.
In a style similar to the Amiga community over the last few
years, if anyone uses or produces anything for a KOSH machine they
have the right to contribute to the general direction of the
system. Whilst many would say that this is an impossible dream the
KOSH production team believe they can fulfil their goals through a
tightly managed development process to prevent duplication of
effort. The kommunity effort will be based upon regular internet
discussions with the creators of this vision, as well as a yearly
progress report and decision on where the market should go next. In
a process of five key stages the development of KOSH has been set
out. At present they are still on the concept stage examining what
KOSH should be but it is expected that they will soon move onto the
requirements and definition of such a system, as well as actually
writing the OS and maintaining it for the market.
In a comment that symbolises the growing frustration with closed
systems and differing level of bureaucracy that has come to
dominate the computer market place the creators of KOSH summarised
their ideals,
In short, KOSH is about community and about
innovation. It is about providing a platform of choice to the free
spirit, the adventurer, the scientist, the artist. It is about
embracing the shrinking world, allowing individuals and small
companies to make a living doing something they enjoy. It is about
the small over the big, the single person over the faceless
corporation. It is about being part, a real part of something
bigger. It is about doing something more in a world where we are so
often told to sit back, do nothing and accept what others tell us.
It is about taking responsibility for who we want to be, where we
want to go and how we go about getting there....
FINALLY!
Whilst development of this system is likely to take it well beyond
the year 2000 until we see a result of the discussion it shows a
number of lessons that need to be learnt for the clear development
of another level of democratic computer design. It will be
interesting to see what will develop out of this. Many scoffed at
Linux for trying new ideas and yet it is now being promoted as a
Windows-beater that may hold the future of a platform independent
operating system. If KOSH can capture even a quarter of this it may
turn into a success.
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