An Operating System for the Home

Review for "An Operating System for the Home"

Paper Summary

The paper is about the operation system for the home, which is getting more and more popularity nowadays. Current paper explains the general idea of the system for home, the general process and progress of development of applications, how it works and what problems need to be solved to make it more useful and more user-friendly.

HomeOS is the system that can simplify distance management of home with the help of remotely controllable devices. It is a protocol-independent service. The experience gained in the process of development and testing of this operating system on a real user shows that there is much work to be done in order to make the system more convenient and useful for different ranges of users and, of course, almost universally implementable in future.

Paper itself reveals different ways and architectural instructions for development of HomeOS and how developers implement it in practice.

There are several different forms that HomeOS system can take. The following ideas can be provided into life and work as people’s protection and innovation. The first opportunity that the systems provides is that with the help of internet connection and gadgets like laptop, tablet, or mobile phone, the owner of the house can see what is going around the building if there are cameras in it. Second, the user can set a schedule of opening and closing of doors, windows, gates, or directly do it from his or her device. The third option for users is that they can take total control of the music system in the house.

Generally, the paper explains the main idea of HomeOS and its possible benefits, problems, and risks on the current stage of development.

There are many ideas ahead to create more safe and consistent applications. Besides, far more innovations and disseverments are to appear in future.

Objectives of the Paper

The main objectives of the paper are to describe the operating system for home, the main ideas how it can change people’s lives and put a new advancement of science.

Approach, Novelty and Technical Depth

The method of this operating system for home is that the person can manage its home devices at a distance. The main idea is that the person can take care of his home or watch what is going on in the house. This mechanism should have compatibility with such devices as smartphones, video cameras, music devices, heating devices and so on. Therefore, one of its possibilities is to switch on and off music in the house, and totally have it under control while you are away. One more possibility is to control every camera that is installed in the house. Another possibility is to manage the temperature control in the house, in some sections or rooms.

Major Strengths and Weaknesses

On the current stage of its development, the operating system has some problems of implementation. The main disadvantage of this operating system for home is that it might be unsafe. For example, as it includes the option of locking and unlocking the door, there might be some jams in the system or incompatibility with some gadgets or with some set rules for devices. Also, there might be some technical defects or bugs, which can harm the system.

Next problem is that it can be too complicated in use. As this innovation is only in the process of development, it might be hard for new users to understand how to use it. Furthermore, people of different ages and education may be using this system, and because it might be too complicated in use it can discourage some customers.

 Finely, another disadvantage is that home pets can damage some devices, for instance, like break the camera or damage wires. One more disadvantage may be weather conditions that can harm the system as well.

The main advantage of HomeOS is that it allows people to control their house while they are away. They can make the house exactly the way they want it to be when they come back or at a particular point in time. This function is very useful for families with children. For example, parents can control TV or music for children to fall asleep.  

This operating system can serve as a security system. If the owner leaves the house for any reason and it stays unwatched, he can see every corner of it if there are cameras set there. Also the user can receive notifications about any security system errors or reservations.

Learn from the Paper

The new thing I learned from the paper An Operating System for the Home by Dixon et al. (2012) is that several houses already have it in use. I guess that one of the most helpful things to get to know what is missing or what should be improved is to give it to the customer for use. Testers have a lot of work to do in order to make this operating system function as it is supposed.

One more thing I discovered that HomeOS uses a layered architecture to make the complexity of the home environment simpler and controlled and address the above mentioned challenges.

There are many different things that can be still discovered. Many of them are to be improved, but humanity is making enormous success nowadays in gaining knowledge and making technical progress.

Future Work

Despite the amount of work that has been carried out in order to create and develop HomeOS, it still needs to be improved.

The first and the most important thing that needs to be done is to improve the system to make it safer. As people can use it in different ways as well as for security purposes, it needs to gain the trust of users.

The second improvement can be the development of more user-friendly interface of the application as people of different ages, knowledge and experience will be using it.

The third one is the improvement of compatibility. We know that some options when used simultaneously may contradict each other.