HACKER Q&A
📣 behnamoh

Can operating systems be browsers?


As a heavy user, I basically live in my browser. However, extensions do slow down the browser, which makes me think there's gotta be a better way. I believe it's high time we had an operating system which is fully optimized as a browser. Extensions then, would be apps on the OS, and probably won't slow it down. Have you seen any OS that is browser-first?

  👤 jonjacky Accepted Answer ✓
From time to time someone suggests that the present monolithic browser could be replaced by separate programs or facilities that are coordinated by the operating system, but as far as I know, it hasn't yet been done.

For example, this comment by BAReF00t from a couple of months ago [1]:

"Browsers are a case of monolithism (and the inner-platform effect, of course). In actuality, they are multiple different kinds of programs, welded together for no sensible reason: an http fetching daemon, a "runner" to open URLs, several document viewers, a virtual machine, an OS with an API, extensive libraries for everything that the OS below the OS already offered, one or several programming language JIT compiler(s) and runtime(s), and some bits and pieces. In a healthy environment, there would not be a second OS on top of the normal one. And all those parts would be separate software, with standardized interfaces. ..."

Years ago Rob Pike responded this way to complaints that there was no browser for the Plan 9 operating system [2]:

"While that would be better than no browser at all, Mozilla is just the sort of stand-alone monolith that we're trying to argue against. And of course, everyone else in the world is trying to turn their system into a giant web browser. I'd rather see web access be one aspect of a system in which the pieces work in concert."

1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21052915

2. http://p9.nyx.link/netlib/9fans/9fans.0007 (post dated 18 Jul 2000 about halfway down)

👤 Tomte
> Extensions then, would be apps on the OS, and probably won't slow it down.

How does that follow?

Are you looking for some kind of compiled-language extensions maybe?

👤 jimmyvalmer
Your question betrays a basic misunderstanding about what operating systems are.