Each OS generation adds new abstractions (drivers → filesystems → VMs → containers → orchestration). Older layers remain valuable and compose with new layers rather than being discarded. Abstraction compresses detail: hide when convenient, reveal when debugging or optimizing.
1950s–1960s — Mainframe batch schedulers (resource management) 1969–1971 — UNIX: multitasking, portability, POSIX roots 1974 — CP/M; 1981 — MS‑DOS: PC era command-line 1985–1995 — Windows GUI era: mainstream desktop computing 1991 — Linux: open kernel, server & infra revolution Late 1990s–2000s — Virtualization precedents (VMs, jails, LXC) 2013 — Docker containers: lightweight app packaging 2010s–2020s — Cloud-native + orchestration (Kubernetes) 2023–2025 — Intention Space (emerging): semantic/intent layer above runtimes
Each layer preserved earlier tools but added abstractions (POSIX, containers, orchestration). Responsibility shifted: devs own more of runtime/ops (CI/CD, observability). Containers enabled reproducible delivery and microservices patterns. An Intention Space layer would raise design-time semantics: intent models, CPUX flows, and runtime conformance bringin Linux kernel ability into end user application level Tooling will need to validate intent, monitor conformance, and map intents to runtime artifacts.
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