A couple of answers:
"Or does the idea of a single OS disintegrate into a fractal cloud of
zero-cost VM's?"
I would say zero-cost computing. Whether that occurs at VMs or even on what
we would recognize as a computer seems too limiting. I think all that
matters is that the program be elaborated. (There, I used a term from the
Algol 68 report!)
"Would we still recognize it as a Unix?"
Not sure what "it" refers to, but I'm sure that any and all things
UNIX-like would be programs that could be run.
I imagine that clever marketeers will design a box that can appear to run
programs (they may or may not actually run on anything contained in the
box) and then call it a "computer", for those who still care. It could have
flashing lights, even. And, as it is nearly empty, it could range in size
from a watch (or smaller) to a big desktop box.
In today's terminology, what I see is that programs will run in the cloud.
Programs I think are of eternal importance. How they are executed will
become irrelevant.
Somewhere in that cloud are actual computers, of course. How they work I'm
sure will change drastically, as it has fairly often, from the beginning.
--Marc
On Wed, Jan 11, 2017 at 10:01 AM, Corey Lindsly <corey(a)lod.com> wrote:
On 2017-01-11 17:25, Ron Natalie wrote:
Somewhere I have an etherkiller (unfortunately it
is non functional).
FTFY
I don't think so. RJ-11? More like a telephone killer, or home
firestarter.
--corey