SkyOS
Template:Short description Template:Infobox OS
SkyOS is a discontinued prototype commercial, proprietary, graphical desktop operating system written for the x86 computer architecture. Its first version was released in 1997, and its last beta build was released in 2008.
As of January 2009, development of the OS has been halted, with no plans to resume its development.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In August 2013, developer Robert Szeleney announced the release of a public beta on the SkyOS website. This allows public users to download a Live CD of the SkyOS operating system, for testing and to optionally install the system.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History
Development started in 1996,<ref name="root.cz2009-07-13">Template:Cite web</ref> with the first version released in December 1997.<ref name="DerStandard">Template:Cite web</ref> Up until version 4.x, the OS was freely available.<ref name="osnews2013-08-12">Template:Cite web</ref> Starting with beta development of SkyOS 5 in 2003, users were required to pay US$30 to get access to beta releases.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> SkyOS adapted new filesystem SkyFS based on OpenBFS in 2004,<ref name="osnews2004-01-23">Template:Cite web</ref> and its graphics subsystem was improved in 2006 with support for desktop compositing, including double buffering and transparency. The OS also moved to ELF binaries then.<ref name="root.cz2006-07-12">Template:Cite web</ref> The last beta build 6947 was released in August 2008,<ref name="osnews2013-08-12"/> and there was no status update for several months.<ref name="root.cz2009-03-11">Template:Cite web</ref> As the OS was mainly the work of one man, Robert Szeleney, there was increasing difficulty to add new device drivers.<ref name="root.cz2009-07-13"/> Considering lack of development under Robert Szeleney, going open source was viewed by the tech press as the best option for SkyOS.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="root.cz2009-03-11"/> Although Szeleney tried to bypass the lack of drivers by using a new kernel based on Linux or NetBSD,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and reported some progress in this regard,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> development has not resumed. SkyOS website disappeared in 2013<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and final public build from August 2008 was released for free shortly thereafter.<ref name="osnews2013-08-12"/>
Features
SkyOS is a Unix-like operating system with a monolithic kernel.<ref name="root.cz2009-07-13"/> The OS supports multiple users<ref name="DerStandard"/> and symmetric multiprocessing.<ref name="NewsForge"/>
SkyOS has an integrated graphics subsystem with support for desktop compositing including double buffering and transparency.<ref name="root.cz2006-07-12"/> SkyOS GUI also allows system-wide mouse gestures.<ref name="NewsForge"/>
SkyFS is a fork of the OpenBFS filesystem.<ref name="osnews2004-01-23"/>
SkyOS can also be run from the following filesystems:
SkyOS offers real-time file content query searches with multiple keywords (comparable to Beagle in Linux or Spotlight in macOS), including indexing of files and programs.<ref name="NewsForge"/>
Applications
Most command-line applications that were written to be compiled with the GNU Toolchain can be ported to SkyOS with little or no modification.
SkyOS contains several frameworks for creating applications (including Mono port).<ref name="root.cz2009-07-13"/> Ported applications include Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Nvu,<ref name="NewsForge">Template:Cite web</ref> GIMP and AbiWord.<ref name="DerStandard"/> There was also a monetary incentive for porting applications as the SkyOS community voted for desired programs and then supported developers with donations.<ref name="root.cz2009-07-13"/>
Reception
Although SkyOS includes many interesting features, limited application and hardware support are among its weaknesses (e.g. only a few graphics cards allow 2D acceleration).<ref name="NewsForge"/> Kernel and drivers updates were solely worked on by Szeleney, and because of this he was unable to keep up with new devices. This was one of the reasons the development ended for this project. In the end, the OS was not able to expand beyond a small albeit dedicated user community. Apart from a short early open source time period, the OS had a proprietary licence with a commercial model based on paid beta-testing. This led to some controversy as SkyOS developers were accused of unauthorized use of open source software. No proof of any wrongdoing was given, but the public image of the OS was tarnished nevertheless.<ref name="root.cz2009-07-13"/>
See also
References
External links
- Template:Official
- Slashdot—Walking Through SkyOS 5.0 Beta
- Slashdot—Thunderbird and Firefox Ported to SkyOS
- OSNews.com—SkyOS, The 7th Beta and Robert Szeleney