International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol:10 No:01 1
I J E N S
0 IJENS 1 20 February IJENS © - IJECS 7373 - 101401
Sewos: A Framework For Semantic Web
Operating System
M. Riad
1
, Hamdy K. Elminir
2
, Mohamed Abu ElSoud
3
, Sahar. F. Sabbeh
4
1,3
Faculty of computers and information sciences. Mansoura university, Egypt
2
Misr Academy for Engineering & technology
4
Alzarka Higher institute for administration & computer sciences Damietta, Egypt
1
amriad2000@yahoo.com,
2
Hamdy_elminir@hotmail.com ,
3
mohamed_hossieny@yahoo.com,
4
M_sabbeh@yahoo.com
Abstract-- The core of our work is to present a SOA-based
framework of a web operating system that makes uses of web
semantics in its underlying file system. "SEWOS", as it is named,
moves user's traditional operational desktop environment into a
web browser accessed by user any time anywhere. The usage of
semantic web techniques provides better organization,
annotation, navigation and searching capabilities. Usage data,
user’s personalized settings along with file system ontology are
all used to provide user a desktop metaphor and an experience
that almost mimics traditional desktop.
Index Term-- Web Operating System, Semantic, Ontology,
Service Oriented Architecture
1. INTRODUCTION
The tremendous growth in web as a source of information
led to an increased interest in research of applications and
trends that make use of web data trying to reach their ultimate
potential. In this context, researchers investigated the ability to
extend the functionality of traditional web-based applications
to enable users to interact with applications in much the same
way as they do with desktop applications. Web operating
systems were developed to provide users with an environment
that pretty much resembles traditional desktop environment
through web browser. They represent an advance in web
utilities as they aim to provide better operational environments
by moving users' working environment within web site
including managing his/her files, install his own applications.
But, yet the bulk of the available systems disregarded the
underling file system and the employment of semantic web
techniques that are used to provide a well defined structure of
resources as well as easier information retrieval and indexing.
Web operating system can be defined as a virtual desktop
on the web, accessible via a browser as an interface designed
to look like traditional operating system with multiple
integrated built-in applications that allow the user to easily
manage and organize his data from any location [1]. Web
operating system provides users with traditional operating
system applications as services available for user to access
transparently without any prior knowledge about where
service is available, the cost or constraints [2]. In web
operating system, applications, data files, configurations,
settings and access privileges reside remotely over network as
services accessed by web browser which is used for input and
display purposes [3].
As mentioned earlier, web Operating system has become an
interesting field of research and many attempts have been
made for building web operating systems. WOS [2-8], the first
known web-based operating system that provided a platform
that enabled user to benefit from computational potential of
the web. WOS provided users with plenty of tools through
using a virtual desktop using the notion of distributed
computing by replicating its services between multiple
interacting nodes to manipulate user requests. WOS consists
of three major components, graphical user interface, resource
control unit which processes user request and finally a remote
resource control unit which manages requests passed from
other nodes.
The interest in web operating systems and their
applications on academic communities resulted in VNet which
was developed at the university of Houston and considered an
access point to campus resources. VNet included variety of
services that support students such as Desktop, admin
management, contact management, file management services,
calendar and scheduling services, report generation services,
… etc [9].
based on the earlier work of WOS WEBRES was
developed. WEBRES investigated the aspects of resource
sharing that wasn’t addresses in WOS and presented the
notion of resource set which makes resources persistent rather
that bounded to a specific user[10].
G.H.O.S.T (http://g.ho.st/vc.html), EyeOS
"www.eyeos.com" and DesktopTwo "www.desktoptwo.com "
are examples of systems that were built based on the trends of
web operating systems. They mimic the look, feel and
functionality of the desktop environment of an operating
system. Moreover, they present variety of applications such
as: File management, Address book, Calendar and text editing
applications.
As mentioned earlier, taking semantics into consideration
is an ongoing research field. Many attempts have been made
to integrate semantic techniques to enhance traditional desktop
environments [11-13].
Through annotating user files and resources, traditional
desktop functionalities can be enhanced enabling retrieval of
resources that are semantically related. HyperSD [14], a
semantic desktop browser that comes with wrappers that allow
importing regular desktop objects, such as files, person