I kind of disagree, at least in what concerns the Plan 9 lineage, Inferno was way better.
Sadly it appears most people just stop at the middle, instead of the last version of Plan 9's evolution.
Sadly it appears most people just stop at the middle, instead of the last version of Plan 9's evolution.
From Inferno OS page [1] :
>>>..As this is part of the underlying system, all applications gain these benefits automatically. 9P runs over various transport protocols including TCP/IP.
9P was originally developed for use with Plan 9 from Bell Labs. A simplified subset called Styx was used in Inferno for a few years, but now Inferno's protocol is exactly the same as 9P. Some manual pages and older papers still refer to Styx. <<<
I think major constraint (or advantage, depending how you look at it) -- is that you can only use GO-like programming language, Limbo, to develop for it. No other language runtime is supported.
I think better or worse isn't the important theme here. It's that we've lost variety...
Perhaps in 20 or 30 years we will have something akin to plan9 or inferno composed from nodes on these networks?
After all, at some point everything old becomes new again when it comes to computer technology.
Blockchain: - A decentralized and distributed digital ledger that is used to record transactions across many computers so that the record cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks and the collusion of the network.
Edit: One might question what the ledger tracks in terms of operating toward user needs as opposed to financial activity.
Seems highly likely to occur within less than a decade. Tops. Just not on the blockchain. Likely something not-blockchain, e.g. https://ecsa.io/ (which /interacts/ with the blockchain, but isn't blockchain based.)
People massively underestimate just how fast technology progresses at the moment.
To open a TCP connection, you use the dial(3) function, which basically does the following: write "tcp!name!port" to /net/cs and read out "1.2.3.4!80" (/net/cs resolves the name), then you write "connect 1.2.3.4" to /net/tcp/clone and read out a connection ID, and open /net/tcp/:id/data which is now a full-duplex TCP stream.
There's this emphasis on simple, sane ways of fulfilling tasks on plan9 that permeates the whole system. It's beautiful.
I mean, consider something like vim. It's a nice program, well designed - but undoubtedly insane, just because it's supposed to work in every imaginable context.
It strikes me that plan9 wouldn't be immune to the same phenomenon.
However, if the system permits arbitrary applications to be executed (which plan9 does), then it cannot be shielded from madness. Proof: plan9 has a POSIX compatibility layer (APE), a vt100 terminal emulator and a vim port. It even has an aging full-on linux emulator. I think it could run a really old version of Firefox, but the memory is vague. People swear by Mothra these days anyway.
In any case the C APIs are the same as Plan 9 anyway.