Hacker News is most interesting when a controversial article like this is written without all the necessary facts or research. I learned a lot about a range of existing OS and application tech just through all the refuting going on here.
Anyhow, my $0.02 is that all software dies. Either software lands in a niche due to its architecture and doesn't survive industry paradigm shifts or it groans under its own weight of cruft allowing more nimble competitors to enter the market and take marketshare. I'm no fan of full-system rewrites because of the tremendous cost and typical failure, but even so all software does eventually die and replacements will emerge.
So, it at least makes sense for some well-heeled upstart to begin thinking about the next-gen operating system in case an opportunity presented itself to establish a market. If that upstart were me, my focus would be on productivity, performance, stability/security.
Especially with regards to UX, I would focus on defining UX Guidelines and a windowing toolkit that would only change very infrequently (like once every 10-20 years.) To me, a tacky-looking, "outdated" UX that billions of people know by heart and can play like a fiddle is infinitely more valuable than one that changes look-and-feel year to year. My devs would be laser focused on fixing bugs and performance enhancements, not feature-itis.
Anyhow, my $0.02 is that all software dies. Either software lands in a niche due to its architecture and doesn't survive industry paradigm shifts or it groans under its own weight of cruft allowing more nimble competitors to enter the market and take marketshare. I'm no fan of full-system rewrites because of the tremendous cost and typical failure, but even so all software does eventually die and replacements will emerge.
So, it at least makes sense for some well-heeled upstart to begin thinking about the next-gen operating system in case an opportunity presented itself to establish a market. If that upstart were me, my focus would be on productivity, performance, stability/security.
Especially with regards to UX, I would focus on defining UX Guidelines and a windowing toolkit that would only change very infrequently (like once every 10-20 years.) To me, a tacky-looking, "outdated" UX that billions of people know by heart and can play like a fiddle is infinitely more valuable than one that changes look-and-feel year to year. My devs would be laser focused on fixing bugs and performance enhancements, not feature-itis.