From Slashdot: XIOS - XML Internet Operating System



  • Proof that XML is the solution to every problem!

    http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=R2FGBWGYKLN5OQSNDLPCKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=197700815&queryText=xml

     



  • XIOS can be toted around on a USB flash drive with, say, Firefox and every computer you plug it unto becomes your computer, with your files.

    I already have all the functionality of this silly-assed solution by carrying around:

    Securecrt, puTTY, and i can't remember the name of the X client i use, but i can access my linux xwindows with it.

    Also, i have java-based VNC. why would i need any of this crap?



  • @XIOS BS said:

    An operating system, of course, needs applications and that's the major challenge Xcerion faces in the months leading up to launch and afterwards. Attracting developers might seem like an insurmountable challenge given the massive, entrenched developer communities that add value to the major software stacks. But Xcerion has a fair shot at doing just that because its IDE, an XML-based visual programming system, allows for extremely rapid development. Programming applications on XIOS is orders of magnitude easier to program than, say, C++ or Java. Arthursson said that it took him 30 minutes to develop an RSS-reader application and a few months to develop a PowerPoint clone. "If you can use FrontPage or Excel, you can program this," said Arthursson.


    What's that you say?  A new proprietary programming language created by a 15-employee company?  Where do I sign up?

    I guess we all might as well find a new line of work anyway though, because these guys have made programming as easy as FrontPage.



  • Can't really see the point of this XML Internet Operating System, but hey, it has a few buzzwords. 

     

    @GeneWitch said:

    XIOS can be toted around on a USB flash drive with, say, Firefox and every computer you plug it unto becomes your computer, with your files.

    I already have all the functionality of this silly-assed solution by carrying around:

    Securecrt, puTTY, and i can't remember the name of the X client i use, but i can access my linux xwindows with it.

    Also, i have java-based VNC. why would i need any of this crap?

     
    And those days you can carry a Linux distro on a USB stick. Makes a nice tool for maintenance (removing viruses from Windows boxes, doing backups of important files before formatting a hard drive, hardware testing...).



  • And considering the investors / list of people on the board (Microsoft server infrastructure middle-level manager, VC funder for an online grocery store, MBA CIO of an XML parser company), I think I understand.

    It's a company dedicated to turning all those buzzwords and trends you see in the IT management rags into something tangible that management types can buy (SOA, XML, distributed, grid, ubiquitous computing all rolled into one). They're trying to make all of those promises from the late 90s when they got their MBAs a reality, no matter how stupid they are or how wrong we proved those ideas to be the first time around. They think they can leverage all those new buzzwords to make those old promises come to fruititon.

    Of course, never mind the existing technologies that do all of that, that won't get venture capital, that's not exciting. Either that or the founders are not cogniscant of the state of the art and largely do not case, and are taking the approach of "for CIOs by CIOs" (more likely).

    In the end we all suffer. 



  • GeneWitch:

    Why do you use SecureCRT if you have PuTTY?

    PuTTY is the superior terminal emulator in my experience;also it comes with a nice set of neato SSH utils, doesn't require installation, and it's cross-platform an open source. 

     I used to use SecureCRT with a crack before I knew any better. What's your reasons?
     



  • @GeneWitch said:

    I already have all the functionality of this silly-assed solution by carrying around:

    Securecrt, puTTY, and i can't remember the name of the X client i use, but i can access my linux xwindows with it.

    Also, i have java-based VNC. why would i need any of this crap?

    Not everyone has the luxury of owning a server on a publically accessible IP address. Either they're NAT'd on dial-up, or behind a router, or perhaps aren't computer savvy enough to use Linux, or setup Windows to act like that.

    That's not to say that your solution isn't better, but not everyone can set it up, and full unix shell accounts aren't particularly cheap generally (at least, not last time I checked). 



  • @burnmp3s said:


    What's that you say?  A new proprietary programming language created by a 15-employee company?  Where do I sign up?

    I guess we all might as well find a new line of work anyway though, because these guys have made programming as easy as FrontPage.

    Whenever I read about those magic tools that allow "normal people" to develop software, I cannot help but wonder what happened to the 3871 pevious attempts. 



  • @SpoonMeiser said:

    @GeneWitch said:

    I already have all the functionality of this silly-assed solution by carrying around:

    Securecrt, puTTY, and i can't remember the name of the X client i use, but i can access my linux xwindows with it.

    Also, i have java-based VNC. why would i need any of this crap?

    Not everyone has the luxury of owning a server on a publically accessible IP address. Either they're NAT'd on dial-up, or behind a router, or perhaps aren't computer savvy enough to use Linux, or setup Windows to act like that.

    That's not to say that your solution isn't better, but not everyone can set it up, and full unix shell accounts aren't particularly cheap generally (at least, not last time I checked). 

    NAT'd on dial up? perhaps i am mistaken but even NATs allow routing to individual hosts... and can an ISP even give you a private IP? I thought the NAT was so they could just have everything pooled to save money (i don't feel like explaining what i mean, i'm too tired)

    i had a buddy on NAT'd DSL, and he would complain about not being able to send files and stuff... but my router hands stuff off just fine. I'm not really sure if IPCop does NAT (i'd assume so) or uses some other method, but that's how my rig is set up, my server and linux machines have pinholes with very long passwords to let VNC in (there was an exploit, and someone was on my network through it, i switched to TightVNC, haven't had any problems since) and IIRC the x-server thing i use starts with SSH. I haven't needed to use my linux box when i am away from home, since i mostly let other people use that when they come over; to check email and whatnot.

    The only way i can see what your point is a college student or someone who doesn't have access to the physical device that is restricting them from opening ports... in which case (and this is probably true) there's a 99% chance they shouldn't be running services like that anyhow. College students, employees, library computers, etc are what i am thinking of.

    But even then, if you really need to access the stuff on your home computer so badly over the comparatively high latency and slow throughput of the the internet medium... there are ways to do it. and you probably should be using a thumbdrive or something similar.

    I've never really found the UI of an OS something to be so necessary that i couldn't do without - as in i don't mind using a mac to surf the web or print something versus absoloutly needing a PC.

    trying to introduce a new OS into the mainstream is just destined to fail right now, of all times. Vista has hardware companies scrambling to get drivers made... and don't get me started on how long it can take most companies to get a driver out for a new mainstream OS... i'm still waiting on Oxygen 8 drivers, scratchamp drivers, gigastudio compatible drivers for my audigy 2 for x64, gamepad drivers, 3d goggle drivers, etc etc etc. and i've been using x64 for almost 2 years (i'd guess... i bought it when it came out, whenever that was).

    If i plug something in to my computer and it works, i am shocked. if i download a game (from steam or EA Link) and it works, i am stunned.

    I'm used to it, by now.

    But i wouldn't switch to an unsupported OS for anything other than to be able to write it on a resume. I dual boot Ubuntu on this machine, and i think it's been at least a week since i last saw beryl. :-D



  • @ammoQ said:

    @burnmp3s said:

    What's that you say?  A new proprietary programming language created by a 15-employee company?  Where do I sign up?

    I guess we all might as well find a new line of work anyway though, because these guys have made programming as easy as FrontPage.

    Whenever I read about those magic tools that allow "normal people" to develop software, I cannot help but wonder what happened to the 3871 pevious attempts. 

    Well, there was hypercard; and the mac had a few other cool scripting languages (applescript was apple's, but there were others). They were real easy to use. HTML is fairly straightforward, if you want to call it a 'programming language.' some people call it web programming, like my friend that knows XHTML or whatever it is called. Most "layman's programming tools" are really just powerful scripting and macro languages. And more power to them, really.

    But i'll rue the day that some 100 point IQ scoring newbie can program anything non-trivial without it taking forever, regardless of whatever tools there are available.

    I'd wager that a computer will be able to dissect a problem and program the solution in C long before any regular untrained human can do the same thing with any other turing-complete language, including C.



  • @gblues said:

    Proof that XML is the solution to every problem!

    XML is like violence - if it doesn't solve the problem, use more. 



  • @GeneWitch said:

    NAT'd on dial up? perhaps i am mistaken but even NATs allow routing to individual hosts... and can an ISP even give you a private IP? I thought the NAT was so they could just have everything pooled to save money (i don't feel like explaining what i mean, i'm too tired)

     

    I use the DSL service from a local and not very large phone company, which is also my ISP, and I have a valid IP.

    My DSL modem is configured with something called "Zero IP Bridge", which is the best of both world's: my network card gets a real IP address (i.e. not 192.168.xxx.yyy), and I don't need any "dialer" stuff on my PC, just connect the network cable, release/renew (Windows) or restart networking (Linux) and done, I'm browsing.

    But even then, if you really need to access the stuff on your home computer so badly over the comparatively high latency and slow throughput of the the internet medium... there are ways to do it. and you probably should be using a thumbdrive or something similar.

    I once used SCP (a secure FTP implementation) to copy files from a PC at school to my home PC. Worked OK, not very fast (my DSL is 600k up/300k down, I have the option of going up to 2Mb/1Mb) but did the job.

     

    trying to introduce a new OS into the mainstream is just destined to fail right now, of all times

     
    Agreed.  



  • @GeneWitch said:

    @ammoQ said:
    @burnmp3s said:

    What's that you say?  A new proprietary programming language created by a 15-employee company?  Where do I sign up?

    I guess we all might as well find a new line of work anyway though, because these guys have made programming as easy as FrontPage.

    Whenever I read about those magic tools that allow "normal people" to develop software, I cannot help but wonder what happened to the 3871 pevious attempts. 

    Well, there was hypercard; and the mac had a few other cool scripting languages (applescript was apple's, but there were others). They were real easy to use. 


    Applescript is a language with a rather peculiar property: anyone can write in it, but only an expert can debug programs written in it.


  • @kirchhoff said:

    GeneWitch:

    Why do you use SecureCRT if you have PuTTY?

    PuTTY is the superior terminal emulator in my experience;also it comes with a nice set of neato SSH utils, doesn't require installation, and it's cross-platform an open source. 

     I used to use SecureCRT with a crack before I knew any better. What's your reasons?
     

    I just tried PuTTY's new serial mode to connect to a server via a null modem cable, a week ago.  It kept crashing.  Over, and over, and over again.  SecureCRT, on the other hand, had no problem handling the exact same connection.

    I do use putty for just about everything else, though.  Although it's got a couple annoying issues.  Sometimes, it doesn't pass the right row/column count, so output is formated for 80x24, even though I've got the window at well over twice that, and sometimes if I hit ctrl-C in a password field, it forgets to start echoing input again.  However, it's possible that both of those quirks aren't putty's fault at all.

    All in all, putty passes the "good enough" test, so I really haven't bothered trying SecureCRT as an SSH alternative.

     



  • @merreborn said:

    @kirchhoff said:

    GeneWitch:

    Why do you use SecureCRT if you have PuTTY?

    PuTTY is the superior terminal emulator in my experience;also it comes with a nice set of neato SSH utils, doesn't require installation, and it's cross-platform an open source. 

     I used to use SecureCRT with a crack before I knew any better. What's your reasons?
     

    I just tried PuTTY's new serial mode to connect to a server via a null modem cable, a week ago.  It kept crashing.  Over, and over, and over again.  SecureCRT, on the other hand, had no problem handling the exact same connection.

    I do use putty for just about everything else, though.  Although it's got a couple annoying issues.  Sometimes, it doesn't pass the right row/column count, so output is formated for 80x24, even though I've got the window at well over twice that, and sometimes if I hit ctrl-C in a password field, it forgets to start echoing input again.  However, it's possible that both of those quirks aren't putty's fault at all.

    All in all, putty passes the "good enough" test, so I really haven't bothered trying SecureCRT as an SSH alternative.

     

    The real WTF is that, even if you've checked the "Close window on exit" to "Never", it will still close the window if it can't resolve the host name in question. Why is this a problem, you ask? Well, I use a laptop, and every now and then I turn it on and move it and it needs to connect to the wireless... and if I ask PuTTY to re-connect my (disconnected) window too early (before the DHCP has gone through and such) then my window goes Poof! and is gone.
    Tried reporting a bugfix/feature/whatever request. haven't heard annnything back. 

     

    aside from that, why, I use it like another operating system. You know, the Windows command line experience wouldn't suck half so badly if they could just wrap it in something like PuTTY instead of whatever that excuse-for-a-terminal abomination is supposed to be....



  • @fennec said:

     

    aside from that, why, I use it like another operating system. You know, the Windows command line experience wouldn't suck half so badly if they could just wrap it in something like PuTTY instead of whatever that excuse-for-a-terminal abomination is supposed to be....

    I just started using something called Console. It hooks around the standard console window, and allows resizing and other cool tricks. I have found that some features are buggy - particularly resizing. The cool part is, it allows you to start any shell you want - I use it to invoke cygwin autossh for easy connections to other boxes.



  • Well... I've always just used hyperterm to connect to things via serial on Windows (I'd much rather use tip or minicom on linux or what-have-you). Hyperterm is sort of 'assumed' by any recent device manufacturer in terms on sizes of text areas and control codes and stuff.

    I didn't know PuTTY had a serial mode... interesting, now I realize there's 4 options for method instead of 3 (durrr). Well that makes sense, being a terminal emulator and all. Hope it gets better.

    Sometimes window sizing issues are actually your remote side not guessing the terminal type right. Try manual setting it to "xterm", "linux", and "vt220" in that order to see if it makes things right again. Setting it to vt100 (or having the client software not "understand" your terminal and default to a safe vt100-compatible mode) will leave you in 80x24 funky land.

    Oh, and the CTRL+C -> no echo thing has nothing to do with putty.
    That'll happen anytime you use any text console in unix. Because the passwd program (among others) turns off echo with a control code, and when you kill it with CTRL-C it doesn't get a chance to restore it. Just blindly type 'reset' and hit enter or choose the "Reset Termina" from the right-click putty menu.



  • @GeneWitch said:

    NAT'd on dial up? perhaps i am mistaken but even NATs allow routing to individual hosts... and can an ISP even give you a private IP? I thought the NAT was so they could just have everything pooled to save money (i don't feel like explaining what i mean, i'm too tired)

    NAT is when you have several machine running on one real world IP address (at least, the type of NAT I'm talking about is, which is generally what people mean when they say NAT). That is, the computers will have 'private' IP addresses, 192.168.x.x for example, which are not routable from the internet. You can make connections out to other hosts, but if you try to make a connection from the internet to your machine, you can't. That's because 192.168.x.x is unroutable, and if you connect to the IP address of the router doing NAT, the router has no way of know which machine behind it you're tryingf to connect to.

    If you own the hardware doing the NAT'ing, it's likely that you can setup some form of port forwarding, but if you're a dialup user, this hardware is likely at your ISP.

    What this means, is that in these circumstances, you can't run a server at home and connect to it from anywhere on the Internet. 

    @GeneWitch said:

    But even then, if you really need to access the stuff on your home computer so badly over the comparatively high latency and slow throughput of the the internet medium... there are ways to do it. and you probably should be using a thumbdrive or something similar.

    Which you'd need to remember to syncronise all the time, and remember to take with you everywhere etc. etc.

    @GeneWitch said:

    I've never really found the UI of an OS something to be so necessary that i couldn't do without - as in i don't mind using a mac to surf the web or print something versus absoloutly needing a PC.

    That's fair enough, if all you'll be doing is using the service for access to files, the UI is pointless. 



  • @Fred Foobar said:

    @fennec said:
     

    aside from that, why, I use it like another operating system. You know, the Windows command line experience wouldn't suck half so badly if they could just wrap it in something like PuTTY instead of whatever that excuse-for-a-terminal abomination is supposed to be....

    I just started using something called Console. It hooks around the standard console window, and allows resizing and other cool tricks. I have found that some features are buggy - particularly resizing. The cool part is, it allows you to start any shell you want - I use it to invoke cygwin autossh for easy connections to other boxes.

     

     

    you can resize the cmd console in windows. 

    RIght click on the  bar at the top and go to properties.  Then go to layout and increast the windows size values to like 1000



  • you can resize the cmd console in windows.

    RIght click on the bar at the top and go to properties. Then go to layout and increast the windows size values to like 1000
    You don't use console applications much, do you?

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