(So basically, not just documents, movies, etc., but much more important files, system files, etc. This might get a bit interwoven with many different topics, considering I feel like I’m thinking of novel ideas here all feeding off each other.)
Do I even know what I’m talking about? Maybe not. I’m not entirely certain how a computer even boots. Obviously hardware is needed, not just software. Basically I’m wondering about how to reduce the amount of local data needed for running OS’s. This would require a super basic login/boot screen, that obviously has to connect online first—in order to connect to the SAFE Network. (Is it even possible to go online without booting an OS first?) You would have to one-time-only store data yourself, in order to be able to boot from it later; either that, or have some kind of retail shopping array to decide from, to end up creating your OS in the first place. Or something. I feel like there’s a lot of chicken vs. egg scenarios popping into my head now.
Is this even necessary? I think it could be if people are willing to look at different/most efficient ways to boot up a system. I just came up with it while thinking about the price of different types of hard drives, since SSD’s are popular to use for system files. (I guess this is getting into a different issue now.) There are SSD’s, HDD’s, and, in the future, Maidsafe “drives” (these possibly being much more valuable per megabyte than any other drive on the market, due to superior everything?) which consists just of any drive that is alive and kicking, regardless of it being SSD or HDD, thereby rendering the performance differences between those two null (since a plethora of these different “drive-types” are in effect, within the Safe Network). But what if in the future all you needed to boot up your computer was a super super cheap hardware/software setup, that immediately asks you to log into the SAFE Network to boot up your computer? That would be vital in erasing even more worry than solely regarding the fear of the deletion/disappearance of music, documents, etc.
Feel free to have a good laugh at any (possibly extreme) ignorance displayed by my brain! It seems a bit weird to have your entire computer based on the SAFE network, though it pretty much would be almost your entire computer even if you don’t use it to literally boot your OS. …Now that I think of it, I think I recall various threads around here touching on OS’s. But hopefully my thread isn’t too unnecessary, or helps some newcomers relate to my newbie confusion, or helps me be directed to other threads that will become relevant in my brain (now that I’ve put in the self-effort to try and explain my thoughts), or helps people realize something they didn’t ever think about (even the geniuses, just kidding), or such. Just finally getting my gears racking.