Hi Zane, regarding:

An operating system kernel only needs to provide the following services:

 - Load objects into memory
 - Execute objects' code
 - Manage memory
 - Share the processor between objects
 - Handle hardware interrupts and exceptions
 - Provide for communication between objects

I believe the reason Microsoft has been able to get away with so much is the lack of precision in definitions - i.e. what is and OS? This applies equally to your list above. For example, do you need the word hardware in front of exceptions? Does 'printer out of paper' constitute an exception? What about disk full? Which item in your list covers communication between objects and hardware?

I fully agree with your desire to see a much leaner OS. Microsoft's desire to tightly bind Internet Explorer, Media Player, and whatever else into the OS is one of the most heinous (information technology) acts perpetrated on the development community and the general public. CERT finally got it right in recommending that the public use anything but Internet Explorer!

Regarding bandwidth one of the problems that necessitates the existence of the FCC is the very term broadcast. The solution is line of sight, low power, high bandwidth with narrow-casting. If communities desire a future that is free from punitive communication taxes and big brother style control, then they need to establish neighbour-nets.

Put simply and ignoring the issue of condominiums / apartments, etc. each house has two very small aperture antennas (preferably on opposite faces of the building) – these could be as small as the laser pointer I tease my cat with i.e. not much bigger than a pen. Each antenna can concurrently receive and transmit – anything received in one is passed straight through for instant transmission to the other (maybe with the exception of packets intended for that particular node).

If the antennas are low power then leaving them always-on should not necessarily be an environmental or operating cost issue – indeed there is no reason why they cannot automatically transition from standby to full power for transmission when a signal arrives; receiving requires far less power than transmission.

I’m assuming that neighbour-nets will have multiple connections into the Internet and somebody more clever than myself can dream up a way of making those access points viable. People that are unwilling to place the reliability of their Internet access in the hands of their neighbours will obviously have the choice of doing their own thing – given that all of this technology is largely available today I am amazed that nobody has put it all together.