This is the very first document that appeared on the only recently registered domain www.pro-pos.org on November 13th, 2001. It is preserved for nostalgic purposes.
We want to create a new operating system, from scratch. No crippling legacy. No convenient shortcuts. No excuses.
This is the 21st century. This is the third millenium. Computers surround us everywhere. We think it is time to create an operating system that uses state-of-the-art technology, design patterns and quality assurance protocols from the very beginning.
Some might be happy with Windows or MacOS. Some might point to Linux as an open source alternative. We think that these three operating systems share a common weakness: They are limited in their potential because they have to provide downward compatibility to their predecessors.
If the foundation of your operating system is a bunch of code written three decades ago in some garage, or four decades ago when nobody yet thought about ZIP drives and your mother being her own system administrator, you get what you deserve.
This does not mean that these operating systems are outdated. They did improve over the time, they added many new features and fixed many old problems. But after a certain time, the world´s best make-up can no longer hide the age covered beneath.
We cannot change the way Windows or MacOS work. We would have to change so many things in Linux (facing considerable resistance from those who actually like cryptic options, mystic directory structures and arcane configuration files) that it´s probably the best to leave it all behind, keep the lessons learned in mind, and start from scratch.
Which is exactly what we are planning to do.
Probably never. We do not just want it to run, we want it to be perfect, pleasing the computer illiterate as well as the professional. The odds are overwhelmingly high against us. But in the end, we want to be able to claim, "at least we tried".
No excuses.
2001-11-13, Martin Baute ("Solar") - © 2001-2002 by Pro-POS