mailing-list definition

[Francois-Rene Rideau]

Dear Joyous Tunespeople,
   for our definition, Mike says:
> A group developing an object oriented persistent distributed operating
> system capable of migrating processes in a heterogeneous environment.

   I'd add *dynamic*, *reflexive*, *secure*, *modular*, *decentralized*,
*fine-grained*.
   Dynamic means that the system evolves while being persistent; you don't
have to reboot to modify it.
   Reflexive means that the system may abstract itself, so that simulating
the system (or an altered version) inside itself is trivial, and accessible
to anyone. The system may also *prove* things about itself.
   Secure means that you can restrict user power (by abstracting part of
the system), and don't need give away super-user rights to do things. Also
means you can prove things about objects in the system. Seems quite the same
as the previous to me !
   Modular and decentralized also mean that objects are organized in separate
replaceable upgradable modules, and that no one is compulsory; there is no
kernel.
   Fine-grained means that

   All those are linked. Modular and decentralized are also equivalent to
distributable, and fine grained is compulsory for migrating processes to
be efficient (see the inefficiency of the SPRITE OS that migrates unix-like
processes); Secure is also compulsory for a distributed OS.