Mary Joe Foley and Ed Bott blogged about Midori, which is supposed to be the code name of a new operating system, Microsoft is working on. As I understand their articles, we are not talking about Windows 8 or 9 here, but about something completely new, i.e., an OS built from scratch. Even though both journalists are known to have good connections to Microsoft insiders, they have little information on what Midori is all about:

* Midori is related to Singularity, a Microsoft research project that aims to build an operating system which is mostly written in managed code (C#). Only the lowest-level code is written in assembly language and C, and the hardware abstraction layer is programmed in C++. Singularity is easier to analyze and is supposed to have better performance.
* There is some speculation that Midori could be a revival of Cairo, a research project (1991–1996) into a new distributed and truly object-oriented operating system. To be honest, I have no idea what “distributed” and “object-oriented” could mean here. Perhaps this is just referring to the managed code I mentioned above.
* Midori might also have something to do with WinFS, which was the code name for a new file system based on relational databases. WinFS was one of the new features originally planned for Windows Vista. Maybe the reason why Microsoft had to drop this feature is because too many changes to the core OS would have been necessary.

Well, that is all. Basically, Midori just represents the old theory that Microsoft should start from scratch because Windows is too bloated, and its legacy code and the ecosystem around it make it difficult to add new features. Even though I have been using Windows since it drew its first breath, I do not have the slightest idea whether or not this theory is true. I also believe that there are only a few system engineers on the planet who know enough about Windows to say something reasonable about this topic. As an end user and administrator, I prefer a bloated OS with many features over a slim OS with limited capabilities.

One thing is for sure, though. A newly designed kernel, more object orientation, and a new file system aren’t features that will excite many people. The main reason for Vista’s bad image is that its changes are mostly under hood. Many people don’t understand why they should change the OS if they can’t do new things with it. What would be the big change, if one installed Firefox 6.0 on Midori with its new object-oriented kernel just to work with Google apps 3.0?

In my view, Microsoft should make sure that a newly designed operating system brings fundamental new capabilities. And when I say “fundamental”, I really mean fundamental. The expression “post-Windows” is only justified if it will be an OS that has no windows. That is, I would like to have an OS with a truly new user interface. I am tired of my keyboard, my mouse, and my flat screen. I want new input devices; I want 3D; and I want my desktop to be an integral part of the cloud. Imagine a desktop OS that is nothing else than a client for a Second-Life-like cloud. This is what I would call “post-Windows”.

Perhaps a newly designed kernel is necessary to make this possible. However, if the main purpose of Midori is just to get rid of Windows’ bloated legacy, then Midori bashing will start even before the first alpha version is out. Rest assured that those journalists and bloggers who now criticize Vista for being bloated will be the first to complain that Midori has no new capabilties.

A while back Dave Eaves suggested that the open web is a social value. This may be true. I’d like to explore a different approach to the Open Web/ Open Internet. Not opposite, because the two approaches might fit together, but distinctly different.

One can think of the Open Internet as something very specific and very concrete, as something that can be built and measured. The Internet itself open, closed, or otherwise is a set of technologies that determine what capabilities are available. The Internet is physical; its tangible. Its made up of hardware and software. The Internet may embody values. (And its early designers such as Vint Cerf are extremely articulate about the values they designed into its basic layers.) But the internet is more than an idea or a value. The Internet is a physical reality.

We could approach the Open Internet the same way. We could define the Open Internet as one where key Internet technologies have specified traits such as interoperability through standards, constructed with open source and free software, individual freedom to control and move one’s data, and so on. If we do this we end up with a more practical, more technical and maybe more limited approach to promoting the Open Internet.

There is something gloriously open-ended about the abstract idea of the Open Internet and its potential to address many of the pressing issues of our era. I’ve heard this open-ended approach to possibilities referred to as the “poetry.” This poetry is critical and gives us lift and  drive and  excitement. It’s very inclusive, and can expand to fit a broad set of dreams.

Building the tangible, bit-based reality of an Open Internet isn’t quite as deep into poetry. It’s very deep into nuts and bolts, hard work, competitive forces, measurable results and the technologies that need to be built.  It’s still got plenty of poetry — just look at the excitement and motivation of the people who make it happen. It’s also got a lot of nitty-gritty, every day, concrete tasks that must be done and must hold up to close inspection and comparison. So it’s not as broad. It’s less appealing to people who share our goals but want to build in areas outside of technology.

Building the “bits” of the tangible Open Internet isn’t for everyone. It’s only a part of creating the online life we’d like to have. But it’s critical. We need the technology.

Thinking of the Open Internet in concrete and specific terms allows us to be focused and effective at specific goals. It’s also more limited, and possibly more limiting. Perhaps we need different perspectives on how to think about the Open Internet?