Saturday, July 17, 2010

Enhanced "Betty's OS" coming in August

A new version of "Betty's OS" (which was published on TBB in June) will be here in August. To be titled "Betty's OS 2.0" (BOS2.0), it is the first Enhanced Edition of a Bettywork. (Enhanced Editions are planned for all past and future Bettyworks).

The work has been significantly lengthened. I've added 326 lines to the original 770, to bring the total over 1,000 lines. Those changes, though, do not justify a second posting; in fact, I've already edited the June postings to add the new lines (just as I did with the later revisions to "Betty's Hat" in the December archives).

The change in BOS2.0 is that the software names are now all live-linked: Clicking on a name brings one to a page on the net (most often a Wikipedia page) with information on that operating system.

Just as "Betty's Hat" was seen, by some, as not a poem or anti-poem but a list of colours; so "Betty's OS" has been seen by some as not a poem or anti-poem but a list of operating systems. BOS2.0 is an attempt to popularize the work among that demographic. It is already the longest list of operating systems (that I know of) on the net: its 2,185 entries dwarf the 1,187 currently listed at the Operating Systems Documentation Project, and the notes will make it even more valuable to those interested in such things.

I hope that, even for those uninterested in OS lists, the enhancements will add value to the work; they'll be a reason to come back and rummage around in it (the way it's intended to be read).

90-95% of the names are already linked; a few more may get done, but (due to diminishing returns) I do not plan to go for 100%. Whatever is linked Aug. 1, is what gets blogged that month.

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