Comment Whatever happened to the Unix Interface? (Score 1) 535
The problem with present day GUI's is that they follow WIMP based design. This is getting old and people are looking for alternatives but are not sure what they are looking for.
I propose that I have found what they want. It came to me when I considered the Unix shell as it compared to a WIMP based equivalent. The problem is you can't ad hoc combine programs together using a WIMP as you can in a shell.
First off, in Unix, "Everything is a file."
Why not make window's into something like a file. That way it can be moved around and combined into other window's. You would mount a client to one and only one program and it would recieve errors,
requests, replies and events for any number of windows bellow it. Much more general.
Secondly, in Unix, you create little programs that can be chained together using system resources (such as pipes, etc.). These little programs do one thing and one thing only, but they do it very well. You then chain these programs together to perform whatever you want.
That is why you need a Windowing Kernel.
The interface between the networking of the clients and the devices it controls (mouse,
keyboard, etc.) would be in the hands of the windowing kernel. The window manager would control
the screen and root windows as well as any subwindows it owns through the windowing kernel.
I am designing this type of Windowing Kernel now but I am having a hell of a time trying to figure it all out, but it will be worth it in the end. No more bloated window programs. No more being locked in by the WIMP paradigm, long live Unix...
I propose that I have found what they want. It came to me when I considered the Unix shell as it compared to a WIMP based equivalent. The problem is you can't ad hoc combine programs together using a WIMP as you can in a shell.
First off, in Unix, "Everything is a file."
Why not make window's into something like a file. That way it can be moved around and combined into other window's. You would mount a client to one and only one program and it would recieve errors,
requests, replies and events for any number of windows bellow it. Much more general.
Secondly, in Unix, you create little programs that can be chained together using system resources (such as pipes, etc.). These little programs do one thing and one thing only, but they do it very well. You then chain these programs together to perform whatever you want.
That is why you need a Windowing Kernel.
The interface between the networking of the clients and the devices it controls (mouse,
keyboard, etc.) would be in the hands of the windowing kernel. The window manager would control
the screen and root windows as well as any subwindows it owns through the windowing kernel.
I am designing this type of Windowing Kernel now but I am having a hell of a time trying to figure it all out, but it will be worth it in the end. No more bloated window programs. No more being locked in by the WIMP paradigm, long live Unix...
-- NPC
