Think of operating systems: perhaps Mac, Linux and Ubuntu are the only two names that spring to mind other than of course, Windows. But is that all to the world of operating systems? Definitely not, because there are some truly innovative systems which will amaze, surprise or even shock you with what they have to offer.
What follows is a look at some of these oddball operating systems which could rule the world (at least that is what they definitely wish!)
The Ylmf OS — Website
Developed by a guy, named Lai Lin Feng, who promises not to get married until he has made his new OS commercial, this system is actually hard to tell from Windows XP. It uses the same interface and is available in Chinese and English for now. Within five years (and by the time this product will be a global rage!) Spanish and Russian versions will also be available.
So what’s this OS all about? It is marketed on the official website as ‘very similar to XP but not XP’ and ‘it’s absolutely Ylmf OS’- identity crisis, anyone? A closer look reveals that it has been made from Ubuntu 10.4 with a Windows XP theme for GNOME. In addition to that, a whole lot of apps have been added to make it seem ‘original’ but that’s hardly enough. But if you still wish to set Mr. Feng on his road to success, do give this OS a try!
Now for some operating systems which are not purely oddball, but definitely out-of-the-box. Kudos to you, if you’ve even heard about these before!
ReactOS — Website
This OS was originally meant to be an open source clone of Windows 95, but things did not happen so easily. As a result the ReactOS has huffed and puffed itself to a position of obscurity, far from the revolution it was hoping to become. And what can you do on this home-grown kernel OS that resembles Windows 2000?
Basic, web browsing using Firefox, OpenOffice document access, and playing a few games (albeit with the odd crashes) works our well on this OS. This is definitely still work-in-progress and will develop with time.
AROS — Website
This OS is keeping the AmigaOS legacy alive. If you may remember, the Amiga OS had rocked the world in the late eighties with amazing sound and graphics. This OS uses the same source code as the Amiga and can also be run from inside Linux. Even the file system and layout may remind you of the Amiga! Though this OS may never make it big (realistically), it does change the world of Amiga fans!
Who knows, perhaps as you read this, some other wacky OS has just been developed. After all these operating systems do tell you that nothing is impossible!
JesOS: ‘The first true Christian OS’
Well, you guessed it right, this is about as deep as religion can go into computing! Developed by the Landover Baptist Community College Computer science team, this OS aims to deliver you from the pains of having to use ‘godless’ operating systems day in day out.
With the promise that only American Christians will be able to use this OS, the makers have truly taken religious insanity to the ultimate frontier-that of the operating systems! These features are supposedly the USP’s of this OS:
- An integrated King James Bible widget for the keyboard which automatically inserts verses from the Bible and also converts all word spellings to American English.
- You will only be able to run content cleared by the US Department of Faith! So no action games unless the violence is Biblical!
- No anti-virus support is provided, because the Bible professes faith healing.
- Lack of a recycle bin, because once a file is deleted Jesus sends the bits and bytes straight to hell.
- An inbuilt program called DetectBias, filters all incoming data for liberal bias and communist propaganda!
If you have been able to suppress a chuckle so far, good for you; because these guys are really serious.
