Web Desktop Applications (Apps)

In conjunction with our discussion of the web as an extension of our operating system and applications, we downloaded and tried some things on Adobe Media Player.  We first had to download the Adobe AIR software. We noted a couple of things:

• Adobe Media Player is an application that does run as a Windows application.  That is, it is a program that is installed on Windows and is started from Windows (e.g., by way of a desktop icon)
• Adobe Media Player, however, connects to the internet for downloading and playing videos.  So, part of the application lies on a remote server.

This is another example of how the internet and so-called Web 2.0 technologies are allowing applications we install on our computer to be a hybrid of locally-running code and remote server-running code.

Processes

In preparation for our study of process management, we discussed the overall design of an operating system as the integration of a number of modules, each of which is quite detailed and large in its own right.  These included:

• file system (e.g., on a hard drive) design and implementation
• process management
• process scheduling
• memory (RAM) management
• security
• networking