Well, you know, guys... Something I see in every discussion about OSes and really bugs me, is the fact that Microsoft-Haters only speak of how sucky Windows is. Don't get me wrong, I consider myself an avid MS-Hater myself, but I just don't think that's reason enough for me to bash everything they did. I mean, come on, they did some real nice things, right? Yes, their bad (arguably) significantly outweights their good, but still....

As for the operating system of my dreams, well, I'm actually working on it. So for those of you who wonder how long does it actually take to learn how to make an OS, let me tell you...

- 2 Years (min.) to be sufficiently good at Assembly and C.
- 1 year (min.) to learn the basics and inner-workings of OSes.
- Somewhere between 6 months and a year to create a complete sketch of how you want your OS to be like
- 1-2 years to actually code it, test it, and publish it.

Oh boy... Now that I put it like that, I think I'm gonna faint... I never thought I'd spent so much time on this thing. But frankly, for all of you geeks out there, it's a supreme pleasure.

But like Chris Neutral said, this particular timetable only applies to ME. Maybe you're better skilled than I am. Maybe you're smarter. Maybe you have magic abilities, who knows! If so, then by all means, go for it. If you don't come out of it with anything else, at least you'll achieve an unparalleled level of programming potency and experience.

Hope I wasn't too boring, but even if I was, I'll see you later.

I myself, would like to create a new operating system that you load from a disk, and using this idea i put together for a new kind of command-line interface unlike anything I've ever seen before. It would have very little, if any, resemblance to UNIX or MS-DOS in terms of commands and such. It would have support for networking, multiple users, true multitasking, memory protection, the aim is to make something with stability parallel to UNIX, but something that can entirely fit on a floppy disk, (with a USB-key also being an alternative option). I'm guessing the best thing would be to build this from assembly language, although, the only assembly language i know to any degree (which isn't too much) is 6502 assembly language, and as far as I know, you can't write operating systems in BASIC. I'm guessing I'd be stuck with 80386 assembly...As far as a kernel, it would most likely use a monokernel, although I have considered using Mach, but I'm not sure..

Would anyone use an advanced disk operating system like this?

If you don't like a GUI then go back to MS DOS, it should be real easy to find a bunch of dinasaur machines and some references to the different verions so you can enter all those cryptic line commands, I just hope you speel real good and are sure of what command you just wrote.

My OS would be have a graphically pleasing interface like Mac OS 10, it would have the easy use of Windows without the sucking part.
It would come with a browser based of FireFox, it would have an auto-updater connected to a server with an OC 225 internet connection. It would be easy to install, and let you create as many users as you wanted. It would have an auto-emulation system for Windows, Linux, Mac OS, PS2, XBOX, and GameCube, so that if any files compatible with those where put in it would run them (not perfectly, but effectively and with decent speeds).
Then I would just try to decrease the amount of space it takes up so users can have more space for things like music, pictures, games, or any random crap they want on their PC.

The perfect OS for me would write drivers for my hardware and develop itself from the inside out during the installation process. It would also serve me homemade ice cream every hour, on the hour. That would be so awesome.

my OS would be easy to use, yet it would be a very powerfull OS. The installation of the OS should be straight-forward, detailed (in levels) and easy to make it unattended. Installing extra software should have monitoring so that when a program is uninstalled, (nearly) nothing should be left.
As for hardware, drivers should have 3 settings, default, fast and save, for those who want to get the best speed at cost of some stability (in terms of stable for several days), same goes for kernel optimalisations like they are available in linux (but, drivers and kernel should be seperated)
The command line should be as powerfull as the linux commandline, yet for those who can't or won't work with it, everything should be available in a GUI.
The OS should also be compact, I don't realy care if it uses 10Gb or so on a hdd, but it should be lightweight (few resources) and fast (I'd say it should combine the looks of KDE/Windows9x and the speed of XCFE).

So, it would be some kind of mixture between windows and linux .

I think this is the dream of every programmer, but it will never come true^^

I guess every programmer dreams of creating an Operating System! The worst thing about it is the complexity involved and the time & effort requirement. But, that is what would make the end result so satisfying. Technically speaking, one must have extreme knowledge about Operating Systems & their working. The basic operations such as CPU scheduling, I/O management, Paging, Memory handling, etc, must be implemented. Adding a GUI would further complicate matters. The OS also needs to be able to handle various file systems. Also, the OS would have to be coded in a lower level language such as C or assembly, which makes the task even more daunting. It is extremely difficult (if not impossible) for one man to develop such a thing.

I would just package up Ubuntu to my own choice. Or buy a massive pen drive and put a bunch of OS's on, and Grub. The wheel has a million designs, we can be lazy now.

Mine would change the appearance all the folders / directories and such from icons into something more like a mind map of expandable branches. Complete with touch screen, I would be able to drag the branches around in any order, resize the important looking ones (or colour them differently) and even add my own custom graphics to any branch (I am a visual thinker). It would be 3D.
Or, just for a fun alternative, it might be possible to explore directories like going through 3D rooms. Downloadable themes could make the rooms look like a castle maze, or something out of Star Wars depending on my mood.
The OS would come with art applications... perhaps the Gimp (although I really wish Gimp would hurry up and get folders in layers like Photoshop has) and definitely 3D animation tools like Blender.
Any section could be password encrypted so I wouldn't have to worry about anyone using my computer going through my more personal stuff. File format would automatically be compressed to save space.
I would also invent a neat "go anywhere" feature where not only can you save todays files into a portable briefcase for taking away to work (etc) on your USB drive, but the main programs to run those files would be included & linked as well. The USB would then be bootable from anyones machines and your applications would work like a live CD enabling me to continue working from anyones computer. Alternatively, my OS could include provision for online storage of files, even having browser-based word processors etc, or even allowing me to log in and access my desktop remotely.