The end run around the OS is underway

August 15, 2008 (Friday) | Operating Systems

The operating system may be losing its luster. In fact, you could argue that the operating system--Linux, OS X and Windows--will become an application that just happens to boot first. And hardware vendors are on to the OS's diminishing importance. Let's connect a few dots: On Tuesday, Dell rolled out a new line of laptops and one of the best features was the ability to get your email, contacts, calendar and other items without booting the operating system, a process that can take awhile (at least on my system). On Thursday, Intel talked up software that can wake a system out of sleep mode to take a PC phone call. It's probably a security disaster waiting to happen, but it's...