Your Personal Computing Revolution
Proxima is a desktop operating system with a difference. One that strips back all the layers of clutter that have polluted desktop operating systems over the years, and re-imagines the essential building blocks in a modern, simplified way.
Programmable Rich Output and Extendable Input for Modular Applications.
Computing needs a reboot
Lots of desktop operating systems don't deliver the future you were promised.
Today, everyone is learning to code, only to find there's no point building apps on tangled systems that don't let you run your apps on your own terms.
Computers are powerful tools, but disjointed layers of complexity take that power away from the user. Tangled programming models of traditional Graphical User Interface (GUI) systems, and a departure from the more natural model of basic input and output, have lead to apps being complex to write and maintain, requiring extensive testing and quality assurance work just to be sure they will work on other people's PCs. Installing an app requires modification of system components, making operating systems fragile and vulnerable.
Window systems may be simple to use, but they are very complex to program.
—Mark Langley
Take computing back
Proxima is an OS that modernises the primitive foundations of an OS instead of just sticking other layers on top. It returns to the classic input/output model that the Personal Computing Revolution was founded on, but in a reworked form for the rich content and interaction that today's users are accustomed to. (Sometimes revolutions have to go full-circle.) The result is a complete replacement of the traditional 'GUI' programming model found in Windows, Mac and Desktop Linux systems, with a simpler Versatile User Interface model, or 'VUI'.
- Proxima apps look much like desktop apps found on systems like Windows, but are more straightforward to program.
- The VUI model lets programmers focus on algorithms rather than APIs, enabling a more self-contained program flow that makes apps less costly to develop.
- Proxima apps require an order of magnitude less code than GUI apps when the same programming language is used.
- Proxima is a clean slate for computing and a clean foundation to build software on.
- Apps are more self-contaned and can be distributed and run in more flexible ways, with fewer steps. Apps do not require a "setup" process or modification of system components.
A primal computing experience
When you want to sit down at a desktop computer, you should feel like you're using a computer.
Computing is more fun when it's a tactile experience. Proxima makes use of the function keys on the top of your keyboard in an intuitive way. Even the SysRq key has a newfound purpose.
Proxima also has a greater focus on removable storage media. With an untangled OS, there's no longer a good reason for all your apps and files to be stuck inside one machine. With Proxima, apps are self-contained and easy to move them between devices. An app can even be hosted on one device for multiple online users.
Follow me on X.com/dwkos to keep up with developments.