Supporting the information mesh

A model for the role of the network in a distributed computing environment that will necessarily require abstractions in the operating system has been developed. This model is based on information that is long lived and widely distributed. It assumes that interesting information can be distributed around the world, and survives outside any particular application, application toolkit, or programming language runtime system. Within the information mesh, computations or activities will take place in one of three forms: one in which the focus of attention is changed, but the application remains the same; one in which the focus changes, and the application itself must also change; and a third that is less specific, more global, e.g., searching. In the cases of such global operations, one may need to limit the scope of terms of the mesh, since these are operations over regions of the mesh. It is important to include links and a native form of link shadow in each operating system, if the workstation running that operating system is to allow the user to collaborate in the information mesh