The network hardware is the operating system

Abstract

To build a distributed operating system (OS), the microkernel approach is the most popular. To build an adaptable OS, a minimal microkernel is preferred, but for an adaptable and flexible distributed OS, the previous approaches are not enough because they create an artificial barrier to OS distribution and harm system transparency and adaptability. This paper express how adaptable distributed systems could be built and describes an example implementation named Off where the microkernel itself and its abstractions are both distributed and adaptable. It is shown why the system interface should be close to the hardware but not restricted to a local node. The whole network is considered to be the exported and multiplexed hardware, in contrast to what is done by today microkernel in "distributed" OSs, eliminating the artificial view of nodes as isolated entities.