IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 8, Issue 3, No.

1, May 2011
ISSN (Online): 1694-0814
www.IJCSI.org

515

SEWOS: Bringing Semantics into Web operating System

A. M. Riad1, Hamdy K. Elminir2, Mohamed Abu ElSoud3 , Sahar. F. Sabbeh4
Information system department, Faculty of computers and information sciences. Mansoura university, Egypt
2
Department of Communication Misr Academy for Engineering & technology.
3
Computer Science department, Faculty of computers and information sciences. Mansoura University, Egypt
4
Alzarka Higher institute for administration & computer sciences, Damietta, Egypt
1

ABSTRACT: The revolution in web world led to

increasing users needs, demands and expectations.
By the time, those needs developed starting from
ordinary static pages, moving on to fully dynamic
ones and reaching the need for services and
applications to be available on the web!.. Those
demands changed the perspective of our web today to
whats said to be a cloud of computing that aims
mainly to provide applications as services for web
user. As time goes by, applications were just not
enough; users needed their applications and data
available anytime, anywhere. For these reasons,
traditional operating system functionality was needed
to be provided as a service that integrates several
applications together with users data.
In this paper we present the detailed description,
implementation and evaluation of SEWOS [1]- a
semantically enhanced web operating system- that
provides the feel, look and mimic traditional desktop
applications using desktop metaphor.

Keywords: Web Operating System, Semantic,

Ontology, Service Oriented Architecture.

1. INTRODUCTION
The World Wide Web has become a major
delivery platform for a variety of complex and
sophisticated applications in several domains. In
this context, researchers investigated the ability to
extend
traditional
web-based
applications'
functionality` 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, installing his applications.
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 user to easily manage and
organize his data from any location[2]. 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 [3]. 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 [4].
As previously stated, web operating system
though its novelty - has drawn attention and many
attempts have been made. WOS [3-9], 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 [10].
Based on the earlier work of WOS WEBRES
was developed. WEBRES investigated the aspects
of resource sharing that wasnt addresses in WOS
and presented the notion of resource set which
makes resources persistent rather that bounded to a
specific user[11].
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.
Implementing such application requires
considering users requirements in all phases as the
final evaluation requires user participation and
intervention. This paper is organized as follows; the
next section presents SEWOS general architecture.
In section 3, implementation of SEWOS and
applications is provided. In section 4 presents the
evaluation of the proposed system. Our conclusion
and future work is presented in section 5.

IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 8, Issue 3, No. 1, May 2011
ISSN (Online): 1694-0814
www.IJCSI.org

2. THE PROPOSED ARCHITECTURE

Web operating systems as previously
mentioned has the features and functionality of
traditional desktop operating system. However,
Web operating systems typically transfer
applications to web server where user can manage
his resources through virtual desktop using web
browser. At the start of our research we had three
main interests which we tried to satisfy.
1- Moving from fully personalized familiar
desktop on PC to a virtual remote desktop,
is a hard task, as users will accept nothing
less than traditional desktop which they
have been accustomed to. Thus, user data,
preferences as well as sessions must be
maintained ensuring that user will always
has a personal experience that resembles
his fully personalized traditional pc
environment.
2- Semantic web technology plays a
significant role in today's web as well as
desktop systems [18-19]. That's why we
thought that it was only a matter of time
before semantic web techniques thrust in
the research of web operating system.
3- A service-oriented architecture (SOA) is
seen as the next evolutionary step in
building web-based applications as it
provides a set of principles of governing
concepts used during phases of systems
development. As in n-tier architectures
SOA separates presentation/applications,

516

services and data into layers preventing

dependency between layers.
In our work, we tried to merge the semantic
web with web operating system utilizing the notion
of SOA to support our architecture.

2.1 SEWOS ARCHITECTURE

SEWOS is SOA-based architecture that shows
the underlying semantic file system of our semantic
web operating system. SEWOS consists mainly of
three layers, application layer, service layer and
data layer as depicted in Figure 1. SEWOS
architecture Application layer contains both user
interface (portal) and application manager which in
turn includes set of applications: file manager, word
processing, spread sheets, web search and to-do list.
The second layer is service layer which
includes transaction manager as well as
personalization manager. Transaction manager
controls user requests and works in correlation with
both application layer and data layer in order to
provide a virtual desktop. Personalization manager
is responsible for generating a personalized desktop
making use of user log, preferences and profile.
Resource locator is used to locate where resources
reside. Our architecture uses the notion of hybrid
systems as it maintains a centralized resource
location whereas resources themselves are
decentralized. And finally, data layer contains back
end databases that stores user profile, log file as
well as user resources that are typical user files
annotated using ontology.The next section
embraces SEWOS implementation process.

Fig.1 SEWOS Architecture

3. SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION
SEWOS was developed based on SOA
techniques. First, user must go through a
registration process or an ordinary login for
registered users. Afterwards, user will be able

to view his personalized desktop, access and

manage his own resources and applications.
SEWOS makes use of memorization as a
personalization function, displaying a welcome
message and a fills user's personalized start

IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 8, Issue 3, No. 1, May 2011
ISSN (Online): 1694-0814
www.IJCSI.org

menu with his recent file list, his events, his

favorite resources and applications. Besides his
start menu, user can start any application
directly using application icon on his desktop.
Moreover, user can start and deal with multiple
applications at the same time. Options to
manage workspace preferences are also
available and accessible through personalized
desktop.
The implementation of SEWOS home page
and personalized desktop is shown in Fig 2.
System's home page in Fig.8.a contains:
1- Welcome message/Log out: system
identifies user and displays a welcome
message
as
an
application
to
aforementioned salutation personalization
function. The system also gives user the
ability to log off at any time during
navigation.
2- Personalized work space: this includes
user's personalized background, calendar
and clock. User can choose to display
clock, calendar or not and he can choose
his own background using preferences
dialog.

517

3- Personalized start menu: User's start

menus includes four tabs as follows:
1- Recent tab: This tab contains a list of
user's personalized book-marking
displaying a set of resources that were
accessed during user's last visit.
2- Events tab: This tab contains a list of
user's events that are associated with
today's date.
3- Favorite Files tab: this tab contains a
list of ranked files that are favorably
accessed by user during that time of
the day.
4- Favorite Applications tab: Contains
a list of SEWOS applications that are
accessed by user during this time of
the day.
4- User Calendar and analog clock: those
two tools are added to user work space
and can be hidden/ shown based on user
preferences.
In the next section a detailed description of
SEWOS's embedded applications, interface
descriptionetc.

Fig.2. SWOS personalized Desktop

3.1 SEWOS FILE MANAGER
SEWOS file manager is a tool developed
mainly to manage user's resources, this tool
deals
with
resources
and
explores
interrelationships for better processing. File
manager interface and recycle bin are be
shown in fig.3 the main components are:
1- Navigational tree: This tree loads user's
folders and arranges them in a hierarchal
form to facilitate user navigating.
2- Item viewer: This Viewer is used to
display user's folders as well as files. Used
to access folders and enables user to select
files for further processing.
3- Recommendations: System provides user
with three recommended lists upon any

resource's selection in the viewer pane.

These lists are as follows:
a) Accessed together list: this list
displays a list of ranked resources that
are frequently accessed together with
the selected resource during same
sessions.
b) Same Type/same creation date list:
This list displays a list of related files
based on their type and related folders
based on their creation date.
c) Related content List: this list
displays a set of resources ranked
according the degree of content
relevancy between each resource and
the selected resource.

IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 8, Issue 3, No. 1, May 2011
ISSN (Online): 1694-0814
www.IJCSI.org

4- Function Buttons: File manager has

capabilities to create new folder,
upload/download and delete resource.
As previously stated, this manager's
functionality is incomplete unless there exists a
way for user to restore his deleted files. This
includes having a personalized recycle bin
which we consider as a main part of SEWOS
File system. This is described in the next
section.
3.1.1 SEWOS RECYCLE BIN
SEWOS Recycle bin completes the
functionality of the underlying file system by
acting as intermediate storage space for user's
resources before they can be permanently
deleted from the system. Recycle bin includes
options either to restore deleted resource or to
delete it permanently from system.
3.2 SEWOS TEXT EDITOR
SEWOS Text editor enables creating, viewing,
editing, formatting, annotating, printing and
saving text files. The application interface can
be shown in Fig.4, this contains:
1)

Clipboard section

This section includes buttons that provides

the basic copy, cut and paste functions.
2)

Font section

This section includes buttons that provides

the main formatting options. This includes
changing fonts, font size, color and
alignment of the selected text.
3)

518

This section includes the basic options to

insert pictures, tables and hyperlinks
within text.
4)

File operations section

This section includes buttons that enables:

Creating new document.
Opening an existing document with
extensions (.txt, .sav and .docx).
Saving user's documents to user's
space with an extension (.sav).
Print preview of user document.
Printing user's document to user's
printer.
Displaying XML code behind
document authoring.
3.3 SEWOS WEB

BROWSER AND SEARCH

APPLICATION

Navigating the web is one of the main

activities of almost every computer users,
that's why SEWOS includes this application.
Application's interface pretty much resembles
the basic interface of web browser. With an
address bar to write required URL and Go
button to navigate directly to it. This
application includes as well an interface to our
developed personalized semantic search engine
(PSSE) using a search button. Web browser
and search application are both shown in Fig.5
(a, b).

Insert section

Fig.3 SEWOS File Manager and Recycle Bin

3.4 SEWOS CALENDAR
User's schedules and events are required to
form user's every day to-do list, SEWOS
calendar allows user to add his events and
schedules for later retrieval. Important event
are retrieved when user first logs into the
system while related and similar events during

the current week can be displayed through

Calendar application. SEWOS calendar
includes displaying, adding and deleting
applications as shown in Fig.6.

IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 8, Issue 3, No. 1, May 2011
ISSN (Online): 1694-0814
www.IJCSI.org

3.5 SEWOS VIDEO PLAYER

For their significance, multimedia files
constitute huge part of today's web and user's
resources. This tool is intended to provide user
a way to open and view his multimedia files
including both audio and video. Application's

519

interface as depicted in Fig.8 includes an open

button, voice control section, play/pause button
and two recommendation lists. Those lists
retrieve resources related by both type and
content

Fig.4 SEWOS Text Editor

3.6 SEWOS GAMING
Gaming and entertainments gain importance to user
during his breaks and leisure times. SEWOS has a

Fig.5(a) SEWOS Web Browser

Fig.5(b) SEWOS Web Search (PSSE)

built-in gaming application for the sake of user's

entertainment. This application is shown in Fig.8.

Fig.6 SEWOS Calendar

Fig.7 SEWOS Video Player

IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 8, Issue 3, No. 1, May 2011
ISSN (Online): 1694-0814
www.IJCSI.org

520

participants for SEWOS and applications based on

the available scales.
SEWOS
Functionality
SEWOS File
Manager
SEWOS Text
Editor
SEWOS web
browser
SEWOS
Calendar

Fig.8 SEWOS Gaming

SEWOS Video
SEWOS
gaming

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

76%

16%

8%

0%

0%

64%

20%

16%

0%

0%

72%

20%

8%

0%

0%

76%

16%

8%

0%

0%

88%

12%

0%

0%

0%

72%

16%

12%

0%

0%

56%

24%

4%

0%

0%

4. SEWOS EVALUATION
Many aspects of usability can best be studied
by simply asking users. This is especially true for
issues related to users subjective satisfaction and
possible anxieties. Since the system is highly
dependent on user participation, the design team
from the beginning has taken steps in collecting
and analyzing user feedback. Evaluation of the
system has been from the beginning an integral part
of our Participatory Design implementation. For
this sake, a questionnaire was provided for
collecting feedback about the general usability of
the system as well as user satisfaction about each of
the embedded applications. Secondly, standard
evaluation measures for information retrieval
techniques were used to evaluate the performance
of our proposed personalized semantic search
engine (PSSE).

Table 1: Percentage of users votes with respect to

each scale

Comments reflected a desire for adding

more applications that both help desktop and web
activities, improvement of the capabilities of the
system by adding context menus and more visual
aids.
A graphical representation of the overall
ratings for all categories is provided in Figure 9.
The former evaluation for our system depended on
measuring user satisfaction of SEWOS and
applications usability.

25
20
15

4.1 QUESTIONNAIRE

100%

10

80%
60%

40%
20%

Fil
e

OS
Fu
nc
ti

on
ali
ty
Ma
na
ge
r
Te
xt
Ed
ito
we
r
bb
row
se
r
Ca
len
da
r
Vid
eo
ga
mi
ng

SE
W

Twenty five experienced users responded to

the questionnaire assessing the overall usability of
the system. Questionnaire consists of forty four
usability questions to which the respondent was to
evaluate based on a five point likert-scale, ranging
from 1 to 5(represent from 20% to 100%
satisfaction). Questionnaire was divided into seven
main categories that represent assessment for each
of the individual applications embedded in the
proposed system, in addition to a section for users'
suggestions and comments. The data responses to
the questionnaires were entered in a spreadsheet,
analyzed and descriptive statistical analyses were
performed. After careful investigation of data, we
can assure that the overall satisfaction of the
participants with system was high. Frequencies
were analyzed to show that 76% of users were
100% satisfied with SEWOS functionality; whereas
16% were 80% satisfied and only 8% were 60%
satisfied about the system. For SEWOS file
manager, it gained 100% satisfaction of 64% of the
participants, 80% by 20% of the participants and
16% were 60% satisfied. For the rest of the
statistics, Table 1 includes the percentage of

Fig.9: Plot of users ratings for SEWOS and

Applications

5. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

Gaining users' satisfaction was our main
goal and motivation when developing SEWOS.
Now, after statistical analysis of participants'
ratings, we can say that impressions from the
evaluation of our data were in favor of our
proposed system. Our future work includes
providing large-scale evaluation of SEWOS as well
as investigating users feedback and provides more
applications that better suits SEWOS users' need.
Moreover, well try to provide integration between
SEWOS and services available on the World Wide
Web.

IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 8, Issue 3, No. 1, May 2011
ISSN (Online): 1694-0814
www.IJCSI.org

References
[1] A.M.Riad, Hamdy k. Elminir, Mohamed Abu
ElSoud, Sahar F. Sabbeh. " Sewos: a framework for
semantic web operating system". International
Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECSIJENS Vol:10 Issue: 1 No.1. 2010.
[2] G. Lawton, "Moving the OS to the Web," Computer,
vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 16-19, 2008.
[3] P. G. Kropf, J. Plaice, H. Unger. "Towards a Web
Operating System (WOS)". In Proceedings of
webnet'1997.
[4] N. A. Kofahi, A. Al-Taani, "Web Operating system
and Computing On The Web", Information
Technology Journal Vol. 4 Issue 4, P. 360-366,
2005.
[5] P. G. Korpf, "Overview of The WOS Project",
Advanced Simulation Technologies Conference
(ASTC1999). San Diego, California, USA,
pp.~350--356, 1999.
[6] A. Mufti, K. Salah, "Web Operating System",
https://eprints.kfupm.edu.sa/794/1/
webos.pdf,
2001. (Retrieved 5-2009)
[7] A. Vahdat, T. Anderson, M. Dahlin, E. Belani, D.
Culler, P. Eastham, C. Yoshikawa. "webos:
Operating system services for Wide Area
Applications", In Proceedings of the Seventh IEEE
Symposium on High Performance Distributed
Systems, 2002.
[8] A. Vahdat, T. Anderson, M. Dahlin, E. Belani, D.
Culler, P. Eastham, C. Yoshikawa. " webos:
Software Support for Scalable Web Services".
Proc. Of the 7th IEEE International Symposium on
High Performance Distributed Computing, Aug.
1998, pp. 52-63.
[9] N. Abdennadher, G. Babin, P. Kropf. " A WOSTM Based Solution For High Performance Computing",
IEEE Computer Society Press, pp. 568-573. May
2001.
[10] S. B. Franceschi, L. Le, D. Velez. "Web-Based
Technologies: Reaching Their Ultimate Potential
On Restricted Budgets", Proceedings of the 32nd
annual ACM SIGUCCS conference on User
services, p.336-339, 2004.
[11] O. Krone, S. Schubiger. "WEBRES: Towards a Web
Operating System", Kommunikation in Verteilten
Systems. P.418-429, 1999.

A.M. Riad - Head of Information

Systems department, Faculty of
Computers
and
Information
Systems, Mansoura University.
Graduated
in
Mansoura
University
from
electrcal
engineering department in 1982.
Obtained Master degree in 1988, and Doctoiral
degree in 1992. Main research points currently are
intelligent information systems and e-Learning.

Hamdy K. Elminir was born in

EI-Mahala, Egypt in 1968. He
received the B.Sc. in Engineering
from Monofia University, in 1991
and completed his master degree

521

in automatic control system in 1996. He obtained his

PhD degree from the Czech Technical University in
Prague in 2001. Currently he is an associate
professor and the head of communication
department masr academy for engineering,
Mansoura, Egypt.
Sahar F. Sabbeh was born in
Damietta, Egypt in 1982. She
received the B.Sc. in Information
systems
from
Mansoura
University, Egypt in 2003 and
completed her master degree in
Information systems 2008.Currently she is an
assistant lecturer in Alzarka Higher Institute For
Computer And Adminstration Sciences, Damietta,
Egypt.