Web Operating system Research Paper 2017

Web Operating System

Research Paper

Authors

 Hassan Javed Cheema  Shahzaib Altaf

hassanjutt91115@gmail.com altaf.shahzaib@gmail.com
BS Computer Sciences BS Software Engineering
Riphah International University College of Riphah International University College of
Computing Faisalabad. Computing Faisalabad.

Riphah International University Faisalabad

Department of Computer Sciences
June-July 2017

WOS Research Paper 2017.

 Web Operating system Research Paper 2017

Abstract
Web Operating Systems is one of the hottest topics in field of computer sciences. Within
last few years it gained a lot of popularity. As the name depicts web operating system is
something which works over web (World Wide Web) in general works depending on
internet and distributed computing. As we know that the current operating systems used by
us have some limitations. Whereas online operating system lemmatize those limitations to
a great extent. This paper represents a detailed explanation of a typical web based operating
systems. This paper covers all the main and basic components of a web operating system.
It discusses process, components, communication protocols, resources, Services and some
of its practical applications. Web Operating System includes mechanism for storage of
data, User authentication, Security, Remote process executions and resource management.
Web operating systems have some additional facilities and operations which have the
ability to force people to switch from simple operating systems to web operating systems.
With all its advantages and facilities there are some places which needs to be improved this
paper also puts light on all those issues and problems. Additionally the paper discusses the
flaws and problems with which the Web Operating System is still struggling.

WOS Research Paper 2017.

Research Paper “Web Operating System”
History
Berkeley Grad and Emory Grad two
startups who started their career in 1999
and this was the time when Web
Operating System gained popularity.
They started their company known as
“WEBOS INC” WEBOS Licensed the
WEBOS technologies from Duke
University and University of Texas. Web
Operating System was firstly created by a
Swedish programmer “Fredrik Malmer”
this man created the first ever online
desktop environment known as
“WEBOS.org” But Soon after the startup
WEBOS INC acquired the WEBOS.org.
With the passage of time many top
programmers of DHTML and JavaScript
joined WEBOS this was the peak time for
WEBOS and hence WEBOS was
launched with a vision of creating the first
ever web operating system complete
environment for everyone.
Introduction
This document deals with detailed
explanation of “Web Operating Systems”
also known as online operating systems.
Web Operating System basically is a
simple phenomenon of Global computing
it works on Client Server architecture.
The biggest advantage of this technology
is the remote access of your data over
internet. The common model Client
Server is used for configuration of Online
Operating Systems and for access the
transportation media usually a network
over internet is used. WOS do not effects
or depend directly on computer hardware.
The applications and software’s are
installed on memory provided by servers.
In order to use your WOS you just need a
browser and internet connection no matter
how far you are from your computer you
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can access your data as mentioned above
this is the biggest advantage of using the
Online Operating Systems. It is practical
implementation of distributed computing.
In this the distributers provides the
services to the users in form of application
servers and databases. In this type of
computing user’s access the services and
programs which are not stored on their
hardware devices they are stored on
WEB. Today after more than one decade
WOS are efficient enough to store data as
large as 50 GB. With all these facilities
and options we can say it as “Computer
on internet”.
This was a detailed introduction of
Web Operating System. The rest of the
paper will describe the WOS in more
detail with different sections, modules
etc.
Technical Overview
In this section we are going to discuss the
technical background of Web operating
systems.
WebOS typically are written in
Java Script using DHTML (DHTML is a
collection of Web Languages) to make
interactive pages which can be supported
by any type of browser having any type of
configuration. A major role in
development of WebOS is of AJAX
(Ajax basically is method using which the
requests of clients are passed to
Server/Database and the result is
transferred to client and this whole
process is done without refreshing the
whole webpage). The AJAX technology
has raised up easiness for the users.
Developer Suite is another useful
technology used in WebOS this
technology allowed the users to build
their own Desktop based applications.
Research Paper “Web Operating System”
After this brief technical overview
now we are going to study the common
modules of Web Operating Systems.
Common Modules
In this section we will discuss the
common modules used in Web Operating
Systems. Their concept, technicalities,
way of implementation and other aspects.
We have tried to enlighten each module
of WOS in this section.
All the Web Operating Systems to
a great extent usually use almost same
modules these modules are important for
many reasons i.e. Security, Availability,
Reliability and other functionalities of
WOS.
 The Login Module:
The first and foremost important module
of any system is Security. Security means
that user should feel free to use the
system. For this purpose every system has
a Login module in it. In the same way
WOS also have this Module.
Login basically means to collect
necessary credentials from user and
matching them with previously stored
credentials by the same user.
In WOS user makes use of server
database to store his/her credentials and
on every login the WOS access the server
database to determine the correctness of
credentials. This leads to a secure Login.
 Application Manager
Module:
Application Manager Module is basically
a module which is under Admin. It is
controlled and operated by admin. Every
application available in OS is managed by
this manager. All the applications details,
logs, prerequisites and operational
activities are controlled by this module.
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User can make new applications under the
monitoring of this module.
 Administrator Interface
Module:
After Login this is the core module in
almost all the systems. In this module the
user have to first login to it. After the
successful login the user have all the
rights to operate the system according to
his/her requirements. This module
includes overall design of the system
form here the user gets the right to control
the overall activities of the OS.
Web Operating Systems give a
large number of options within this
module like memory management,
Admin Permissions, data transferring,
data acquiring etc. The security of an OS
is also managed by this module from here
the user can manage the login credentials
and also can take other security measures.
So this module needs to be made extra
secure and reliable for minimizing theft
and wrong activities.
 User Interface Module:
User Interface Module is another module
which played a great role in success of
Web Operating Systems.
Interface is main thing for
attracting the users. The users do not
know neither they are interested in
knowing that what is going at backend
they like and understand what they see. So
making a beautiful and easy to understand
interface leads to Success of Web
operating systems. This module allows
the user to perform different operations
on to the system.
 The Storage (Memory):
The next module in the list is Storage
module. As Web Operating systems have
gained much popularity in last few years.
Research Paper “Web Operating System”
This popularity results in much more
increased demand of users. More users
means massive storage spaces. For this
purpose huge servers are required to store
data of large number of clients. The
clients require more data space and much
more quick response time. In short the
need for local storage has grown to a
bigger extent.
So now providers require to
improve the storage mechanism to
entertain such a large number of clients.
For this purpose huge and efficient
servers are required which can fulfill this
need. Good technology means increase in
price. So providers now have to think and
make such situations that price should not
raise up too much so it can become
difficult for normal people to continue
their online Operating System.
 The Communication
Module:
The next module is communication
module in this module the communication
of OS over internet is managed. As we
know anything which is on internet works
on Webpages different things are divided
at different sections and sometimes
sections are divided into different web
pages. So the communication
architectural structure and mechanism
should be designed in such a form that
communication should be rapid and the
speed of communication must not let the
user to wait. For this the developers use
different languages to deign there Online
OS.
The communication here is in
between client and server the request is
forwarded to server and the operation is
performed by server.
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One way to tackle the
communication problem is to design the
OS in such a way that the request made by
clients are specific requests and should be
directed to the right server this will
minimize the requesting time and will
increase efficiency in result
communication time will be decreased.
Anew form of communication in Online
OS is peer to peer communication this is
much more speedy process than normal
communication process.
Service Components
Practically any application that can run on
desktop operating system can run on Web
operating system as well. Not all the
facilities and functions could be made
available to online operating systems.
Some of the commonly used services
available in Desktop operating systems
and online operating systems are:
 E mail Service
 File Management
 Games
 Instant Messaging
 Graphic Services
 Photo video and audio editing.
 Spread Sheet Programs.
 Word Processing programs.
These are some major services which are
available to the user as soon as they create
an account for their online operating
systems. Like traditional computers users
can also increase the number of services
as much they want but for doing this they
have to install the applications on their
online OS.
Architecture of Web Operating
system
Below is the pictorial representation of a
normal Web Operating System. Almost
all the Web Operating Systems follow the
Research Paper “Web Operating System”
same architecture. As the picture
represents the architectural scheme is
based on layered architecture. Like many
of the other operating systems are.
There are total three layers of Web
Operating system first layers is known as
Application Layer:
This is the layer which is directly
related to client. This layer is further
divided into three parts First part is as
usual the user interface part user deals
with it for operating the system. Then
after it comes application manager it
allows the user to handle the applications
it includes File manager, Word
Processing Spread Sheets and web search.
This layer is then further linked to
Services layer.
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Services Layer:
This layer deals with the backend
of Operating System. It includes
Transaction manager and personalization
manager. It involves many processes in it
from login to resource allocation
everything is handled by this layer. Both
the managers are linked with each other
and they pass the data, messages,
commands and resources with each other.
The resource allocator module is directly
related to Transactional manager and then
transactional manager is related to
personalization manager.
Data Layer:
The third and final layer is Data
layer. This layer is the core layer in WOS
architecture. The layer has data, resources
And processes saved in it. The user
information the admin information the log
files of computer are stored in this layer.
This layer supports first and second layer
for their efficient performance. The both
first and second layer depends on this
layer. That is why this layer is known as
the core layer in online operating system
architecture.
Advantages of WOS
WOS is a service which totally works
over internet. This makes it completely
different from traditional OS. So as it is a
different thing it has some advantages and
disadvantages different from other OS. In
this section we are going to discuss
advantages of WOS. The advantages of
using WOS are listed below.
 The biggest advantage of WOS is
that it does not depends on the
hardware of a system. It needs just
a browser. Nothing to do with
efficient hard disks, RAM or other
parts of a system. This leads to
Research Paper “Web Operating System”
great cost reduction for the users of
WOS.
 WOS occupies very little amount
of computer hardware services.
 It can be operated on any computer
system by just using a browser.
 WOS integrates a large number of
web services.
 Any problem in computer
hardware doesn’t effects the
performance and working of WOS
on the other hand the traditional
OS totally depends upon computer
hardware.
 Remote access is also a major
advantage of WOS. Using WOS
there is no specific and single
access point you can access your
OS from remote locations using
just internet and browser. This
technique has also played a vital
role in success of WOS.
 WOS has reduced cost for the
users of computers. Cost reduction
is because there is no concerns of
hardware. So less the hardware
required less the cost expended.
 Due to cross platform support and
manageability Web operating
systems are far easier to implement
Then desktop operating systems.
For deployment you just have to
send web address and login
credentials and OS is ready to be
used.
These are the advantages which have
made Web Operating Systems more
interesting and have also helped in
gathering a large amount of clients. There
are many other advantages as well but
these are the most important and valuable
advantages.
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Disadvantages of WOS
Now after discussing the advantages of
Web Operating Systems now we are
going to discuss the disadvantages of
Web Operating Systems. The
disadvantages of Web Operating Systems
are listed below:
 The most valuable advantage of
WOS is somehow the biggest
disadvantage of WOS as well.
WOS cannot be accessed offline
which means if there is no internet
access you are not able to access
your OS.
 The biggest concern for the WOS
clients is security of their data.
Because hacking is today very big
problem. If proper security
measures are not taken by
providers then it is very easy to
hack the online OS accounts of
clients. Providers needs to put in
deep thoughts to overcome this
concern of clients. Because for
everyone safety of their data is
their biggest concern.
 In different countries internet
services are very expensive. WOS
clients need fast and reliable
internet to run their online OS
smoothly. So they have to manage
internet services with high speed
and performance which increases
the cost. This is also something
which needs serious consideration
and should be tackled very nicely.
 Another disadvantage which
depends on internet is that clients
need high bandwidth to run the
programs simultaneously.
 The developers should design
website in such a way that it should
be regardless of the device on
Research Paper “Web Operating System”
which it is being operated. Client
should be given the facility to use
the OS on any device. Many of the
websites have some problems in
their design which bounds the
clients to use the OS only on a
specific device.
 If there is any problem in design of
Website it will have some access
restrictions. Because the website
will not support the hardware
features of the device and hence it
will result in usage failure.
So these were the disadvantages which
providers should overcome as soon as
possible. If proper measures are not taken
in right time it will result in disinterest and
also will force the clients to move to
desktop operating systems.
Concerns of clients
In this section we are going to discuss the
concerns which are directly related to
clients.
Using the WOS requires the clients
to trust a third party because they may
have to store their private and confidential
data on their Operating System. Because
the backend is always in hands of the
providers. Provider doesn’t means a
single man it involves many people like
the developers of the website the people
who are working to keep the website
running 24/7. So there is not anything like
there is a single person who is to be
trusted. There is a full team who is
running everything. So providers should
take some steps to vanish this concern of
their clients. Because this is also a
problem of their repute and prestige.
Related Work
1. Web operating systems for
modern smartphones. Master of
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Science Thesis by authors “Henrik
Steen” and “Gustav Tiger”. This
work is done by two student of
Master’s degree of Chalmers
University of technology Sweden in
June 2011.
In this paper they have
discussed the possibilities to develop
online operating systems for modern
smartphones by studying their
hardware components.
2. Web Operating System journal by
author “Anaya Tripathi”. This
work is done by a student of
bachelor’s degree of Amity school
of Engineering and technology
Amity University India in June
2014.
In this Journal the topic of
discussion is Web Operating System.
The applications, operations,
advantages/disadvantages of using
Web Operating system is main
consideration of this journal.
3. International Journal of
Emerging trends in science and
technology of Web Operating
System by authors “Jo S
Chirakadavil, Muhammad Haffis,
and Deepa Merin Jose”. This work
is done by a team of students and an
assistant professor of MBC college
of Engineering and Technology
Peer-made India in 2015.
In this journal the authors
have described their work which
they have done on Web Operating
System. They have discussed their
modules and way of
implementation.
4. International Journal of
Computer Science and
Technology Cloud Web Based
Research Paper “Web Operating System”
Operating System by author
“Hesham Abusaimeh”. This work
is done by a student of bachelor’s
degree from faculty of Information
Technology Applied Science
University Amman Jordan in April
2014.
In this journal the author have
described their work related to
Cloud Web Operating System. The
author have discussed working
principles, architecture and
comparison of normal OS with
traditional OS.
5. Web Operating System by
author A. Mufti, K. Salah. This
work is done by students of King
Fahad University of Petroleum
and Minerals. This paper
describes the complete details of
web operating systems Dhahran
Saudi Arabia in August 2015.
It describes the structure and
working criteria of the Web
Operating Systems. It also
discusses the difficulties and
issues in normal Web Operating
Systems.
Conclusion
Web Operating systems have the potential
to play an important role in distributed
computing in near future. We know that
these Systems are not capable enough to
replace the traditional OS at this time.
There way of working their architecture
design is based on traditional OS but they
cannot compete the traditional OS. But
there are some features which are very
attracting and useful to use which
traditional OS doesn’t offer. These
features are Remote access, less
dependency on hardware, easy access and
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much more. But there are also some
features which needs to be improved and
some work needs to be done on those
features from making them more reliable
and vital. The providers should think
about the internet services because as
long as the internet exists WOS will exist
as soon as internet is gone. Another
concern which needs to be consider with
strong hands is the trust building and
making the clients feel free to store their
private and confidential data on the online
OS. There have been many researches and
many designed prototypes to lessen the
risk factor in WOS. After discussing
WOS in detail we reach a point that WOS
is not machine dependent but there are
many machines which do not support
WOS websites due to their hardware
configuration. So developers also needs
to design the OS websites in such a way
that it is supported by every kind of
machine.
Finally Web Operating System can
become the future of distributed
computing but there are some
improvements to be done and also some
concerns and issues which needs to be
solved with strong practical
implementations and serious
considerations.
References
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http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-operating-
system.htm
“How Web Operating System Works”
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[2]
http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Web_operating_system
“Web Operating System”
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[3]
http://www.cs.montana.edu/~gumdelli/csci560/?q=node/7
“Web Operating System Architecture”
Date visited- 04-07-2017
Research Paper “Web Operating System” Riphah International University Faisalabad

[4]
https://www.slideshare.net/MadhuBalaRK1993/web-os-
36956172
“Advantages/Disadvantages of Web operating
System”
Date visited- 02-07-2017
[5]
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-advantages-and-
disadvantages-of-web-based-application-development-vs-
desktop-application-development
“Advantages/Disadvantages of Web operating
System”
Date visited- 06-07-2017
[6]
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-operating-
system3.htm
“Concerns of clients on using Web operating
System”
Date visited- 07-07-2017
[7]
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727121.aspx
“Service components and applications of Web
operating System”
Date visited- 28-06-2017

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