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Independent Submission H. Romosan
Internet-Draft OMNICS
Intended status: Informational November 30, 2015
Expires: June 2, 2016


Introduction and Overview of the Omnics System
draft-romosan-omnics-intro-00

Abstract

The transcendence of the user-operator dichotomy through interactive
computing greatly empowered the programmers of early time-sharing
systems and subsequent operating systems. Earth is examined in the
light of history as the largest known time-sharing system in
operation, and Omnics, a synergistic planet operating system, is
proposed.

Status of This Memo

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This Internet-Draft will expire on June 2, 2016.

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Internet-Draft Intro and Overview of the Omnics System November 2015


the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. The Omnics System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Design Features of the Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5. Design Features of the Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
6. Design Considerations in the File System . . . . . . . . . . 4
7. Design Considerations in the Communication and Input/Output
Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
8. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
9. General Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
10. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
11. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1. Introduction

Fifty years ago today, in a time of scarce computing resources, the
Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) system was
presented in a series of influential papers.[CORBATO] It pioneered a
suite of innovative features to facilitate resource sharing between
multiple users and programs, and inspired generations of developers
and operating systems. As computer technology reached the critical
point where computers became personal, operating systems changed, and
some of the features were forgotten and discarded, while others
forgotten and kept.

Now is the time of another turning point. With the growth of the
Internet and the Web, computing cannot be considered strictly
personal any longer. A different set of needs emerges, and a system
for planetary computing becomes a priority.

2. System Requirements

The Internet has made possible what visionary humanists of the past
could only hope for. Possible, but not actual. Regarding Earth as a
limited cybernetic system, it appears overrun by disregarding users
with conflicting programs. Physical and informational resources are
allocated on brute force or chance, the programs of the few constrain
those of the many, and most damage the system to the detriment of
all. The planet is being operated without a proper operating system.

Omnics is an attempt at one and functions as an intermediate layer
between low-level resources and high-level applications. By



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definition, its creation requires widespread adoption, and for this
reason it is to be built on existing operating systems, interpreted
languages and application protocols, offering maximum compatibility
and minimum difficulty.

3. The Omnics System

The roles of Multics and Omnics are similar, but at different levels.
Omnics must orchestrate dissonances harmoniously in the real world,
but not through the application, whether believed to be objective or
not, of a particular economic theory or political ideology. It
should be remembered that never in human history has an ideology
proven itself final, complete, or sustainable by force. Therefore,
Omnics must start with the least assumptions that could possibly work
and evolve alongside its users and their conceptions. Open-endedness
is the only presupposition.

4. Design Features of the Hardware

Many technological hurdles which had to be overcome by Multics are no
longer an issue, but, as is often the case, the power of technology
has surpassed the power of self-control. Brain-computer interfaces
have been developed since the seventies, and may critically reduce
communication latency one day, but as long as human comprehension
lags behind, Omnics has to be designed against miscontrol.

Because a lot of the early computer research was military-funded,
concerns for the resilience and reliability of computer systems were
primary. Distributed operating systems predate Multics, and their
qualities, as well as other network effects, can benefit Omnics
through the adoption of the Internet as its framework.

5. Design Features of the Software

A key aspect of operating systems in general, and distributed ones in
particular, is inter-process communication. Omnics seeks to elevate
this exchange to the level of dialogue[BOHM] as the essential mode of
operation, collapsing unidirectional relationships between programmer
and user, writer and reader, governor and governed.

The Web has made conversation possible on an unprecedented scale, but
as a hypertext system it is not without flaws. Omnics can build upon
it in a symbiotic partnership, but not if it functions as
contemporary web operating systems, that is to say browser-based
desktops maintaining monological assumptions. A truly global
operating system is not the transference of personal computer
operating systems onto the web, but their transcendence.




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The limits of the system are the affordances of its application
interface and user interface. Because certain interactions
strengthen corresponding behaviors, Omnics must never be thought of
purely as an information space. Implicit functions give tacit
consent to what may be in conflict with explicit expressions. A
correspondence between the two is needed.

6. Design Considerations in the File System

Hierarchical file systems, as we know them today, began with Multics.
Whereas it recognized the importance of non-hierarchical links across
the tree structure, subsequent operating systems have neglected them.
That a task as basic as organizing one's digital photos based on
multiple criteria of time, place and people is not easily achievable
shows a fundamental flaw of modern information architecture. The
topology of the world's information is not hierarchical but
networked.

Files, as monolithic blackboxes resisting referencing, recombination,
reconceptualization and recontextualization, and folders, as
partitions cutting sharply across fuzzy boundaries, reduce
understanding and creativity, especially in conjunction with
proprietary formats and encodings. The file-folder dichotomy can be
transcended through a hyperfile[NELSON] system containing and being
directed by hyperdata.

7. Design Considerations in the Communication and Input/Output
Equipment

Computing as public utility has been a central concern of Multics
from its earliest beginnings. The more recent proliferation of
accessible devices has renewed interest in what is now called cloud
computing, but its benefits have not been substantial. A computing
utility limited to data storing and processing is limited in value if
it doesn't assist its users in deriving meaning from the data.
Additionally, the privatization of computing in centralized clusters
consolidates traditional power structures and commercializes personal
information. Decentralization is the defence against control.

8. Security Considerations

Though the subversion of the system by malicious users is made harder
by its architecture, even local disturbances are rough problems, and
they require elegant solutions. Spamming, sock-puppetting and ballot
stuffing are legitimate concerns, but surveillance and invasion of
privacy are illegitimate measures. The nature of the solution should
be analogous to that of the problem, so that programmatic exploits




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are handled algorithmically, and individual abuses personally, but
not suppresively.

9. General Considerations

Omnics is not set in silicon. This document constitutes a small step
in the creation of a large system whose difficulty lies not the
implementation but the elegance and acceptance of its principles. As
a first draft, the writing is intentionally non-committal, and the
obscurity is an impetus for its development along lines of clarity
rather than totality.

10. Conclusion

Ultimately, Omnics is about self-knowledge, mutual understanding and
common good. It requires the good will of good people, to set the
standard and the tone of the developments and discussions that have
to follow.

11. Informative References

[CORBATO] Corbato, F. and V. Vyssotsky, "Introduction and Overview
of the Multics System", November 1965.

[NELSON] Nelson, T., "A File Structure for the Complex, the
Changing and the Indeterminate", August 1965.

[BOHM] Bohm, D., Factor, D., and P. Garrett, "Dialogue: A
Proposal", 1991.

Author's Address

Horatiu Romosan
omnics.org

















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