Ah, here we are, Part IV of the four part series on how to create the Greatest OS of all time. In Part III, we covered the System Settings panel, including categories, items, and how to develop an ‘open’, expandable settings pane. Now, in this last part, we have a few things to talk about.

First thing is applications. As everyone knows, applications are what drives the OS, essentially. Yea, you can have all the eye candy, all of the cool new features, but none of that matters unless you have amazing software to put everything to good use. So first off, all applications need to have a consistent user interface. I know, how can you possible control what every application looks like? Well, you can’t. What you need to do is make sure big time software developers, such as Adobe, Microsoft, etc. make all of their software follow the guidelines you have set for your OS. Make sure they all use the various, standard UI elements, and not bring in proprietary UI things such as buttons. You also need to make sure your bring over all of the great software, including Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, and others, and get them to work, in one way, shape, or form, on your OS. If people can’t run the software they need or want to use, then they won’t switch over.

For all of the applications you can’t to run natively on your OS, you need to develop an emulator. But not just an emulator that runs, say, a small group of programs. You need to develop a system (even include it into the core of the OS) to understand, interpret, and transform all of the applications OS-bound actions (such as use of DirectX, .NET Framework, Core Animation, etc.) and make them use the technologies that power your OS. If you manage to get even 80% of all of the software on any platform to work on yours, you have achieved the title of the Greatest OS of all time.

But other small things need to work as well. You need to have a clear way of browsing files. You can’t have the file browser windows keep changing settings, such as view type and size. They all need to have a consistent feel to them. Pictures should be shown as thumbnails, videos should have the ability to be previewed right inside the file browser. With the click of a button or key, text files should pop open for quick viewing, so you can find what you want fast.

Another feature that the OS should have is an amazing search API. All applications should be able to use this API to browse either specific application file types, or the entire system. Every file should be cached, so there is never any searching for files. When a file is added or edited in the file system, the cache should be instantly updated. Upon install, a cache of all of the default files should be created. If every install is nearly identical, why go through the process of creating a search base when it is all the same?

Finally, the user interface should be clean, refined, cool, yet professional. Yea, it is hard to do such a thing, but you need to find that balance to be able to connect to every user of the OS.

Well, thank you for reading my series on how to create the Greatest OS of all time. I hope that anyone who is any kind of developer reads this, so they can understand how things should be done, whether it is a small application, a massive one, or even an OS.

Here we are, Part III of my series on how to create the Greatest OS of all time. In Part II, we went through the post-installer setup, which allowed the user to create user accounts, configure internet access, and transfer backed up data over to their new install. We also let them tinker around with some of the settings for their new OS, but now we need to really let the user configure everything about it, including visuals, displays, sound, and other little settings.

The first step in doing so is by clearly indicating that every possible setting in the OS is available in the System Settings application. You need to develop a system inside the OS so that all applications can insert their specific set of options and preferences into the main Settings application. As my friend Tanner clearly pointed out, people like it when everything is in one interface, and not all over the place.

The entire Settings application should be split into smaller categories, but not like the Windows XP/Vista Control Panel, which makes no sense whatever. Clearly put everything that has to do with Visuals in one category, which includes Monitor Display settings, all of the various themes for the OS, Handicap Settings, such as an on screen keyboard and high contrast display, and various OS wide font settings.

The Hardware category should contain everything hardware-based, including a list of all installed hardware, USB/Firewire settings, Printers, etc. The Network category should contain not only an action to view all network connections, but an easy to use tool to connect/create a connection, a setting for controlling shared folders, as well as connecting to a wireless network.

I think you get my point. Configuring an OS should be extremely easy, so easy in fact that my grandfather should be able to find his way to change, say, the monitor resolution. Make sure he can do that, otherwise you fail.

The final part in this series, Part IV, will talk about everything else, including applications, both installing and running, and other things. See ya then.

Welcome to Part II of my series on how to create the Greatest OS of all time. When I left off, we had just successfully installed the OS onto the users computer. Great, so now we reboot into the OS, and here we go!

The first thing the user should see is the desktop. Why? Because it makes them feel as if everything is complete. While in all actuality it is, we still need to go over some things, including their username and password, making sure the internet is working, and finishing the transfer of the backed up data we copied over during the install setup. So, pop up a window and dim the desktop. The first page of this window needs to say “Success!”. Why? Because the user needs to know that everything worked out a okay. The second page should ask them what their username should be. Tell them that a common username is their name (either first, last, or a combination of both), and explain to them that if they want to protect their data, that they should apply a password to their account. Once you do that, tell them that their backed up data is being transfered to their new account. Obviously, but the contents of the Pictures folder into the new Pictures folder, etc. Now that we’ve done the transfer, inform them that the backed up data will be erased (but make sure you tell them that they have the data in their account already!).

What about internet? I have yet to install an OS (Windows, Mac OS X (on a Mac and a PC), and Linux) that has not detected my internet. That being said, make sure that you have a network connection before finishing the final setup, otherwise the user would be without internet, which isn’t good at all. If the user needs to set up a modem, make sure you go through the steps to do so with them.

Now, close the window and reveal the desktop. Make sure not to clutter the desktop with useless shit either. Make sure it contains a link to the Internet, one for Email, a chat application if it is installed, Music, and pictures, but that is it. Nothing else should be shown on the desktop (unless you are going for a Mac OS X look, in which show the hard disks). For the next 20 minutes to an hour, the user will go about setting up the system to their needs (simple tasks, such as setting up IM and email, changing the desktop background, etc.). Now, when the user wants to really configure the OS, you need a control panel (or system preferences).

That will be in Part III :).