Paul Miller on Desktop 2.0 and the future of the networked operating system

The new wave of operating systems is, if not useless, at least pointless without the internet. Believe me, I’ve tried. I couldn’t set up a Nexus 7 without connecting it to Wi-Fi, Mountain Lion isn’t sold on DVD or even thumb drive, and Windows 8 without the internet is basically Windows 7 with a bizarre, pointless, fullscreen Start Menu. Every app wants a log-in, needs to be married to some cloud service, longs to share, hopes for updates, bathes your computer in push notifications.

This is a wonderful thing. Read on…