Warrah - 4/1/2010
Written on Sun, 11 Apr 2010 17:48:20 +0000 - Last updated on Sun, 11 Apr 2010 17:51:21 +0000A journal entry in the development of the Warrahoperating system, dated April 1, 2010.
Motivation for Warrah
OS
Web/Internet in the OS
The Internet and the Web are real prevalent in today's world. People all over the world are connected through it. Warrah is a new breed of system - expressly designed to interconnect with other computers. Since Warrah aims to exclusively use open standards, it can connect even with users of other kinds of system.
When you're on Warrah, you are more than a user of the Internet - you are a real part of it. From Warrah, you can share files, chat, stream video, host your own Web site - without ever signing up for a single dot-com. This is partially realized in the Opera Unite service, with the crucial difference being that Warrah integrates these services directly into the OS.
Hypertext-powered
Warrah makes good use of HTTP and HTML, two of the fundamental building blocks of the Web. Since the display is controlled by Web languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (including the powerful jQuery library and its UI framework), the look and feel of a Warrah installation is very flexible. In addition, RSS is used for software repository updates.
Since Warrah is based on HTTP, you can remotely log into a Warrah computer using only a browser. Modern browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari are officially tested.
Human-readable code
The crucial parts of Warrah are written in Python. This makes it possible for power users to tweak Warrah to their needs.
Warrah apps are also written in Python, HTML, and JavaScript. The Warrah app format is inspired by the Mac OS X bundle format, the main difference being that Warrah uses archives while OS X uses directories.
There is even an Program Editor included, that allows users to easily create, edit, and distribute programs.
Free Software (for the non-hacker)
The main goal of Warrah is to demonstrate the value of freedom in software. Traditional Free Software systems like GNU and BSD are like Unix. Unix is great and all, but Unix is a hacker's (in the positive sense) system. You need to learn Unix to use it; conversely, the best way to learn Unix is to use it. Thus, the only real way to take full advantage of GNU or BSD's freedom is to become a "Unix Wizard" and master arcane languages such as C. This has gained free software a reputation of being a toy for geeks. Clearly, this does not help us.
Apple has put out a Unix system that feels nothing like Unix. However, in doing so they have constricted its users even further. The Apple ideal of simplicity is nice, but it leads to the company deciding what its users need. This is not what we want, either.
Warrah aims to accomplish both the GNU ideal of freedom as well as provide a system that is as non-threatening to users as OS X and Windows. The user should not have to enter a command prompt, but they should also be able to redesign, repurpose, redecorate, and redistribute as they wish (also without needing a command prompt). In Warrah, everything is editable - with easy-to-use languages such as Python and HTML. There is no "Secret Sauce" in Warrah. Ease of use and computing freedom do not need to be opposites.
Warrah
Limitations
Still needs some binary code
As far as I can tell, there is no way to write a kernel in interpreted Python (Or a Python interpreter, for that matter). So, Warrah can't be 100% interpreted. Still, the kernel is also Free Software.
Graphics
HTML5 graphics are good, but (even in Chromium) are no match for compiled binaries or Flash/Java. Flash is proprietary, so we must avoid it (blame Adobe, not me!). Java is free, so we might have a better chance with it, but Java has its own problems.
There is a chance that the overhead of using a browser to display the desktop may be an issue.