Its even more impressiv if you look back to the times of sinclair zx80/ spectrum!

(with 64k)

wouldn't you think all the power we have nowadays should get better results and rocketspeeds?

go for cheap, make really cheap smartphone for less than 20$

Btw wans't that what Mozilla tried to do with Firefox OS?

Depends. It's easier to fit things in very small memory footprint if you don't have to care about security issues, which among other things increases complexity. Also, memories are golden - back at times when we used to play computer games, we would load in a tape, start loading the program and have a dinner or coffee during the loading phase...

And of course, everything needs to look so darn good todays, in displays with ~32 (FHD) or even ~49 (retina) times more pixels without slowdown or latency, which does not come cheap.

Not to mention that software/services need to be cheap/dirt cheap/free, so there may not be economic incentive to use considerable amount of time to actually optimize the code. Symbian tried tht way and it was pain to develop anything to it...

I can confirm that!

You have a point, especially about the economic pressure. You are pressurized to churn feature fast and do not have time to optimize. Not only for resource consumption but also for security. There is also another factor you forgot to mention: laziness.

Well there is your business opportunity. Resist that pressure and prove that you can squeeze the same functionality plus a bit more in a quarter of the resources.

Ok, time to brain storming. My suggestion of disruptive OS (or software) is kind of an AI (Artificial Intelligence) OS :
- software a lot more intelligent than today's standards. Software that could help the user, that learn about user, that care about the user. Software (OS and apps) that is a lot more than current personnal assistants (Google Now, Siri, Cortana, etc);
- software would require AI (Artificial Intelligence), GA (Genetic Algorithms), ANN (Artificial Neural Networks), deep learning, etc. It would run on local device, not on cloud, but backup of data mining of user could be backuped in the cloud, so the power hardware of today's standards would be well used;
- for example, instead of web browser typical use where the user chooses a web site, the "web reader" would show a compilation of articles (from many sources) about the user search. E.g., user likes to read about Linux, last time it has read was a week before, then the "web reader" would show a compilation of Linux news and articles from the last week, following the user preferences, time available by the user, etc. These user preferences will be obtained from (a form, etc, in) the beginning, then from next searches when the user ranks the news (as useful, too short, too long, trustful, etc). The "web reader" could suggest content in some days and hours, learning the user's patterns of web reading;
- a presentation software woud be intelligent and suggest many diffferent layouts (following your preferences and your past use), and even help the user writting the content;
- the OS would suggest installing apps (or modules) tailored to the user's preferences. No need for the user searching which app to be installed from thousands. So, if the user is a gamer (of certain type), do mathematical calculations in college, then a selection of games and math tools would be suggested;
- the "calendar" would be very intellingent after the user filled his/her data (age, etc), schedule, etc. It would suggest actions to the user. E.g., "After one year, it's time to go to the dentist, ok ?". "Tomorrow is time to vote for the political elections, and you need travel to vote in your district";
- even with the OS (and authorized softwares) knowing a lot from the user, there would be privacy by means of local storage, encryption of clouded backup, etc. When the user is on another device, his/her profile would be synchronized from the cloud so all the user knowledge would be shared.

So, in this future OS and softwares, the data (preferences for many subjects, let's say the full user profile) from the user is a key point. The OS would be responsible to manage the user full profile, to keep it secure (in the cloud with encryption, shared between the user devices, etc), to share part of the data with some softwares (authorized by the user), to receive more user data from some softwares, etc.

These future OS will target the user life as a whole, aiming to help the user to have a better life. E.g., a good balance in activities like work, recreation, health, sports, etc.

It would be a next (or next-next) generation OS, called "Life OS" or "Personal OS" or similar.

I gotta say, not a very appealing business opportunity... Hardware is getting cheaper every year, and consumers seem to like getting new features every fifteen minutes or so on their devices. Does it really matter that a single app now requires an entire gigabyte of RAM, if that gigabyte is dirt cheap and the app only required a handful of people working for a few weeks to produce?

Seriously -- squeezing the same functionality into smaller hardware just isn't enough to overturn the existing system (much as I would like to see it happen).

Am I the only one left who just wants a computer that lets me do what I want, when I want and how I want? I don't want to see computers turned into consumer appliances that manage our lives. Let's not throw away the hard work done by those hobbyists that gave us the personal computing revolution.

The future of computing:

'The iSerf is a true portable computer, capable of replacing your, smartphone, tablet, laptop and desktop machine. Simply connect your iSerf to the patented iSlave docking station and turn your iSerf into full desktop computer.*'

* Use of iSerf requires connection to an iSerf account. iSlave docking station available separately from approved iSerf retailers. Use of iSerf in conjunction with unauthorized docking stations will result in the termination of your iSerf account and the collection of your iSerf by an authorized iSerf bayliff. iSerf Inc may share any/all data with interested third parties, including commercial partners and government agencies. iSerf Inc reserves the right to terminate access to your iSerf account for any reason at any time.

Yes. Yes, you are.

How these "Personal OS" would suggest and give advices to the user could be configurable. So if the user wants to browser the web by web addresses, ok. As well as no suggestions to events, etc. If the user doesn't want to pass personal data and preferences, it would be ok.

Many computational tools have given us a higher level of dealing with computers. For example, programming in Assembly is indeed "lets me do what I want" in direct connection with the hardware, while a C compiler is a layer between the programmer and the computer, with advantages and disadvantages.