The perfect operating system

As in other articles, this list will grow as I think of new stuff to add to it.

--- Software for the operating system will come as a single, standardised file. This file will be openly-readable by a suitable viewer/editor and be appropriately compressed.

--- Upon installation, each piece of software will be confined to it's own folder/directory within a system-wide software repository and not need to access anything outside that directory. Requests for system-wide configuration changes, such as file associations, notification of events, binding to internet ports etc. will be indicated by a specially-named file within a specially-named subfolder of the software.

These files are seen by the OS as **requests** for configuration changes. The OS will handle detecting these files and allowing the user to choose which piece of software gets to ACTUALLY change the system in the way it asks for. Facilities would be included to specifically BLOCK individual programs from requesting such changes, if necessary (to avoid spamming the user with bogus requests). Any changes in these files are notified to the user concerned to allow them to decide what to do.

--- No piece of software will be allowed any sort of access to another piece of software's folder. Each piece of software has a folder which will have it's own subfolders, each with a unique cryptographic hash stored for the purposes of detecting changes.

These subfolders will include: Programs (for the program's executables and required libraries), Configuration (for program-wide configuration information and system-wide configuration requests) and Data (for additional data, such as user-created documents, frequently updated databases, temporary files etc.).

--- The OS will control software and the movement of data. Each user will have the same program folders present (although those seen by the users will depend on their security permissions) and each user can have their own unique configuration for each program (again, security policy allowing).

The OS will determine which user the software is running under and create links to the correct configuration for that user. This will be under a copy-on-write basis, with new users getting the basic system install and each user's changes stored seperately. Any unchanged files will use the system's defaults.

Similarly for data, each user will have their own data directory for each piece of software.

The OS will also be responsible for detecting shared libraries between software (using name, internal information such as company, version number etc., cryptographics hashes and so on). Common libraries will be detected by the OS and links created to a system-wide libraries directory, after gaining permission from a suitable user to do so.

--- There will be OS facilities for users to transfer data from one piece of software to the other, but programs will NOT be able to do this themselves as they will NOT be able to access any other software's folder. Ideally, these mechanisms will be transparent and a user will see a "Home" folder which contains all of their data files from every program. These will be links to invidual files within a software's Data directories.

The user is free to arrange their Home folder how they wish... links will stay intact, unneeded files will be hidden from view. By selecting a file, they are able to open it in the software in which it is currently residing or in another suitable piece of software. The OS will handle multiple programs opening the same file in the same way as current OS's use hard links, that is the file is only present ONCE but it's entry may appear in multiple software Data directories. The OS will only show a single copy of any file in the user's Home directory, though. Once a non-default program has finished with a certain item of data, the link is removed from it's Home directory, unless there is no other link to that file.

--- As part of the "file presence" system-wide configuration request mechanism, programs may request the use of specialised libraries and other programs. If granted (either by security policy or by appropriate user permission), the software is allowed read and execute access to that program, it's configuration and it's associated data, again taking account of the user it is running under.

--- Uninstallation of software is as simple as removing it's folder or moving it outside of the software repository. Orphaned configurations/data would remain present in each user's Home directory.

--- The OS will provide a security facility for all password/passkey entry. Whenever a password/key needs to be entered, the user will select the password/key field in the softare requesting it. Upon this selection, the OS will clear the screen and place a special, unfakeable, unchangeable indicator in a position on the screen.

While the system password screen is active, no other program may display any component of itself onscreen and all drawing requests are done off-screen. No other piece of software will be able to overlay or display this indicator but the OS itself. When this indicator is lit, all input device control is passed to the OS but NO OTHER PROGRAMS. The password is entered by the user (or the file/device necessary is selected), then sent directly to the software which provided the initial password/key field.

Additionally, the system security screen will clearly show the name of the software initiating the request for a password/key, the reason for it's request and any username or other information required to provide the correct password/key.

Rules for software

A list of things that every piece of computer software do. This list will grow as and when I think of stuff to add to it.

1) Context-sensitive help (such as the "What's This" style help), if implemented, should be defined for EVERY button/option, in much the same way as every single image on a website should have an ALT tag.

2) All software should include an "uninstall" option, whether by an operating-system-provided mechanism or by a simple program supplied with the software. The uninstall should NOT require a reboot (except on those OS's where it's the only way to do it), should kill any running instances of any part of the software, clean up after itself (removing itself and the directories it was contained in) and ask the user if they want to remove configuration information for the program, save games, other files it finds in it's install directories, etc.

If the user does choose to keep this information, it should be put into a directory of the user's choice, labelled by default with the name of the software. This information should include any and all registry entries and, at the user's option, removing or reverting back any file association changes etc. that were made by the software.

3) If a program requires a certain file, library, etc. it should explicitly check for it at install time and run time. If any required file isn't found at any time, a check should be made for all required files and a list printed of the files the program needs in order to run. Lower-numbered versions of required files are seen as incompatible and will make the software print the file AND version required. Websites and other sources of these files should be displayed if known.

4) New versions of a program should ALWAYS come with a small utility or facility within the program itself to convert an installation of an older version into a format compatible with the new version. Hence, older config files are translated into any required new format automatically by the software to the equivalent or a safer configuration. These "convertors" should always be run whenever a previous installation has been detected and should be installed no matter what. Users should be informed by the software of any regressions in new configurations.

5) ALL software should co-exist with ANY version of itself without conflicts. On installation, it should not overwrite any previous installation unless asked to although it may steal, for example, file associations from it's previous versions.

6) Any installation changes with system-wide effect must gain the approval of the user before they are executed and provide an option to skip that step. Unless absolutely critical to the running of the program, the software should run whether the users chooses Yes or No. This covers file association changes, default printer changes, URL handler changes, default action changes (such as auto-insertion of audio CD's etc.) and similar measures.