Quote:
Originally Posted by volwrath
Technically the sony reader, iphone and kindle are all based on unix/linux and are small operating systems
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well a linux kernel on its own is not an operating system. sony and amazon built an OS on top of that with their UI. i guess i should have been clearer, the layer that we interact with the kernel with. Apple's got 3 years now behind them with the iPhone OS. Android is close behind it with 2. Windows 7 has about a year now if we count the RC.
Sony's "OS" behind their ereaders has a few years on it, but it's limited to strictly reading books and would be pretty hard to open up to all the features the ipad currently offers. it's more easily compared to the ibooks applicaiton than the ipad operating sytsem.
the kindle has a few years on it too and does have more general purpose behind it, allowing users to read email and surf the web, but again it's not a very general purpose operating system. amazon is allowing open development for it now, but it will never reach the functionality of iPad/Android/Win7 systems. i'd probably compare it more to the nintendo DS or PSP. it does one thing very well and can be made to do others. i can surf the web on a DS or a PSP but it's clear the unit wasn't designed with that task in mind.