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1 introduction
====================
As of December 2019, there are only four major operating systems available to end-users for desktop and mobile
devices<mmm-embed path="../references/market-share" wrap="sidenote"></mmm-embed>. All of these systems are comparatively inflexible and
can only be customized by users where the system or application developers have anticipated a need with corresponding
options. Only a small minority of professional or hobby developers have the knowledge and tools at their disposal to
create their own digital experiences, and even for them, the process is often too complex and inefficient to do so
effectively.
However, historically, empowered ownership of the computing experience was not meant to be restricted only to
end-users. Many computing systems designed during the computer revolution were designed specifically with the goal of
complete customizability by users, but little of this approach remains in the systems we use today.
In the first section of this thesis, I will discuss some of the limitations of mainstream operating systems and
potential causes in detail. Next, I will highlight some of the contrasting approaches found in historic computing
systems, and then derive a framework for the evaluation of end-user computing systems with regard to user empowerment.
I will then discuss a new computing system, demonstrate it in some example use cases, and evaluate it using the
framework.
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