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Planet99: Sun's Joy on the death of the operating system

By Suzanna Kerridge

Published: Thursday 14 October 1999

The operating system is on the verge of extinction, according to Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems.

Speaking at Planet99, Joy outlined how operating systems will become obsolete as intelligent computing moves towards a network centric model.

"Rather than see the network as a bunch of protocols it should be seen as an environment where objects exist so you raise the level on the Web from sending data to sending programs so they can be customised when they reach their destination," said Joy.

"The operating system is not the thing, the network shouldn't be seen as a bunch of disc operating systems - this is antique - nor should specific protocols be seen as a pervasive network with embedded processes in the real world. For example, an object has a diagnostic face so it can tell you when it is broken."

The Java Virtual Machine is key to this computing model, Joy claimed.

"JVM is the technology if you want to treat these pervasive computing models as an object so that it runs on everything from smartcards to cellphones."

Joy also predicted the development of light switches that know when to turn on and off, mobile phones that know when to ring and ATMs that issue money even when the bank network is down

"Sun's strategy is to understand how to build simple devices as nice as coffeemakers - nice design values and good affordability so it is easy to own and because it is networked it is evident what it does," he said.