> what it is that Inferno does for a user or what a user can do > with it; what distinguishes it from other (operating?) systems. I've > decided to try it because documentation says it will readily run on Windows.
Let's start with the fact that Inferno is a small-footprint, hosted operating environment with its own, complete development tool set. As such it is strictly portable across many architectures with all the advantages of such portability as well as all the useful features Inferno inherited from Plan 9. Not least of these is Limbo, a programming language based on the mourned Alef and, conveniently, interpreted by the Limbo virtual machine, not dissimilar from, but much better thought out than the JAVA virtual machine. You can pile on any number of additional great attributes of Inferno and Limbo that make them highly useful. There is also the option to run Inferno natively on some architectures (I've never dug any deeper than the PC for this, so off the top of my head I can provide no exciting examples) with all the drawbacks of needing device drivers for all sorts of inconsiderate platforms. In a way, I guess Inferno is a slightly different Plan 9 with built-in virtualisation for a wide range of platforms. But the differences are notable even if the philosophy is the same between the two environment. ++L
