From Headless to Rich UI

摘要

The OSGI (Open Service Gateway Initiative) framework was invented to address a practical need: application provision and management on smart home and automobile appliances. Those appliances are typically embedded "gateway" devices without a local UI (otherwise known as headless devices). They differ from traditional computers in a crucial aspect: Appliances operate without supervision by geek users. Since there's no user to feed the CD-ROM, execute the installer, click through the options and reboot the box, we can't install new applications or updates to an embedded appliance using conventional PC methods. Instead, new software applications are pushed to the device on demand. Each application must be aware of its environment and work with other installed applications without external configuration, which requires a sophisticated management interface between applications and the device environment.