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I was wholy underwhelmed with the 2019 presentation but the 2022 presentation is astounding. I've very impressed by the pace and direction of development.
C64OS runs on a stock Commodore 64. REU memory expansion is optional and the most onerous requirement is a boot volume which supports sub-directories. It draws inspiration liberally from AmigaOS 2.x, MacOS6 and more recent Mac operating systems while including plenty of original ideas. It doesn't fall into the trap of trying to render a bitmap desktop. Instead, it is 40*25 text with a range of bitmap tiles which can be requested by an application. These are commonly used to display a MacOS6 style monochrome 24*24 pixel icon for the application being launched. In the same circumstances, I would be inclined to use a 8*8 grid of PETSCII tiles.
Due to limited memory, C64OS functions like MacOS6 with a file manager which launches one application. The file manager demonstrates the available widget set very well and it resembles MacOSX 10.7 with volumes in the top left corner, a choice of favorite locations filling the remainder of the column and re-sizeable directory view also with re-sizeable columns to select choice of sort order. There are a few concessions to Commodore heritage. For example, C64OS can play Turing complete SID files (if they are re-located to $2000). It also provides an Amiga inspired split screen for bitmap display.
The minimal memory requirements create an unfortunate split between applications and utilities. Regardless, typical skeuomorphic desktop toys, such as calculator and perpetual calendar are available. The calendar has a very simple function which I'd like to see everywhere. Specifically, the ability to assign one line of text to every date. Why isn't this available in GNOME's awful desktop? Furthermore, a tasteful two-tone palette is used throughout the default applications. This saves space in text display. The calculator has a two-tone checkerboard of keys. Likewise, the calendar displays each month as a two-tone checkerboard. Even the chess application uses a pleasing two-tone scheme rather than the traditional black/white scheme. (Unfortunately, chess fanatics will bludgeon anyone who doesn't allow a game to be easily recorded on paper. Therefore, the chess application is currently a little too minimal.)
The two-tone scheme extends to the heaviness of text in directory listings. This might be influenced by white/gray background for text directory listings in MacOSX. In isolation, it might be viewed as an affectation. However, it greatly compliments the checkerboard grid view widgets. I still don't like the AmigaOS 2.x cycle widget and I hope that it can be patched with a pull-down menu. Overall, C64OS is intended to be used like Amiga Workbench. Run it when you want multi-tasking and productivity applications - and don't run it when you want all of the system for games.
The clipboard functionality already exceeds XWindows' default functionality but there is no meta-data negotiation because only one application runs at any time. Actually, the clipboard MIME type might be derived from BeOS. Regardless, there is a comprehensive event system where a file chooser can send flush events to its parent application. Unlike a library call and return modal dialog box, the clipboard view utility, file chooser, file meta-data viewer and other windows float freely without affecting responsiveness or redraw of any application. Although this necessarily runs in a shared memory environment, it is structurally closer to MacOSX than MacOS6. A nice feature taken from AmigaOS 2.x is the extensible image parsing and rendering library. Any C64OS application has the ability to open JPG or PNG files and this can be extended or updated as file formats evolve. An example directly relevant to the 6502 Forum is the ongoing ire of the entirely superfluous JPEG EXIF rotation meta-data. All C64OS applications may handle this or similar cases seamlessly with one update.
Despite having idle plans to write a competing operating system, I am highly inclined to financially contribute to C64OS. C64OS is approaching a stable 1.0 release where the API is worth documenting (rather than re-programming). Indeed, it is getting powerful enough to render its own documentation in a hypertext format. It is approaching the stage where it is feasible to write communication software, such as an email client and text web browser. Indeed, the primary use case for C64OS is the provide a frame-work for communication software. This would explain the care taken to allow widgets within scrolling areas and the rendering of common web image formats.
C64OS runs on native hardware, any system which runs VICE and other cases.
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