Problems of Computing on the Web

We discuss the concept of computing on the Web. We show that the heterogeneous and dynamic nature of the Web makes it impossible to define a fixed set of operating system functions, usable for all services. Rather, we propose that generalized software configuration techniques, based on a demand-driven technique called eduction, can be used to define versions of a Web Operating System (WOS) that can be built in an incremental manner. We illustrate this problem by examining the question of load balancing.