The Anti-Capitalist Operating System (ACOS) powers Together We Can Defeat Captilism's (TWCDC's) internet presence. ACOS takes a different approach to the corporate operating system paradigm: by building our own operating systems we can hack our way out of the current impasse of capitalism.
TWCDC is a guerrilla art collective which undertakes controversial, often illicit, projects in public space both on- and off-line. The group's aim is to raise questions about early 21st Century Capitalism and have some fun too.
To exit and return to Microsoft Windows or the other operating system installed on your computer, do one of the following:
For 4x7x365 user support please email info@TWCDC.com
ACOS Version 2.0 was released in December 2002
The major updates in this version are:
In Version 1.0 javascript available at the time only allowed menus to drop down, not drop up like the menus that emerge from the Windows Start button. Even now, it is difficult to find a drop down menu package that possesses enough features and flexibility to mimic Windows, and let's face it, who would want to? Programs like Fireworks can do basic drop-downs, but they are very limited and the results tend to be generic. But then there's this Ukrainian outfit called Softcomplex (www.softcomplex.com) who are cranking out some seriously efficient, robust javascript code. Their Tigra Menu package is a gem which can produce almost any type of drop-down menu you could dream of, with a huge range of flexibility. You get the code too, which allows you to do some tweaking. Plonk down the $30 for the Pro version, its worth it.
The major new programs since Version 1.0 are :
Will Work is a program for finding a job in a capitalist society if you are an anti-capitalist. Bed-In for Peace is one method for addressing the nightmare of war. The Guerrilla Tea Room is the protoype for a world wide franchise of anarchist tea shops forming a virtual revolutionary community. Citibank Global Domination, implemented in collaboration with the Rainforest Action Network, is aimed to embarass Citibank into giving all its profits to environmental programs.
Version 1.0 lacked a control panel. Version 2.0 has a Take Control Panel. This new panel provides tools for individuals to take control of politics and include: Rainforest Action Network's cut-up your Citibank credit card campaign, links to email members of Congress, mushroom cultivation, tear gas survival, billboard alteration, etc.
ACOS includes an advanced background image generator which displays a randoma image from a TWCDC project on each load of ACOS.
Version 1.0 ran in secure (SSL) mode if Netscape was detected. This allowed Netscape to run in fullscreen (kiosk-mode), with user approval (see Version 1.0 Release Notes, below). The Anti-Capitalist Server currently used to serve ACOS does not have SSL, and therefore ACOS is programmed to run in a window on Netscape. TWCDC may purchase a code-signing certificate which will allow running Netscape in kiosk mode, however, since this costs money, and TWCDC is against paying for this kind of thing, this is unlikely. ACOS can only run in kiosk mode in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 and above.
[Version 1.0 was released in October 2000. These are the notes included with that release.]
This web site uses the Anti-Capitalist Operating System (ACOS) which was constructed in HTML using Allaire Homesite 4.5a.
Originally, the Start Menu was based on a Javascript component developed by Gary Smith at Netscape. This worked great on Windows machines, but did not function on Mac, so instead, I developed a simpler alternative by dividing the main window into three frames: the toolbar, the start menu, and the main desktop. When the user clicks on the Start button, the menu simply loads into the left-most frame. A simple javascript rollover function changes the menu images in response to the mouse pointer.
The full screen pop-up window is based on code found in the HTML Code Tutorial pop-window tutorial and at kiosks.org
Internet Explorer allows the programmer to put the browser directly into "kisok mode" (ie the blank "web top" used in this program) without asking the user. Netscape, on the other hand, requires that the user grant permission before kiosk mode can be enabled and the script must be digitally signed. As digital signatures, such as those provided by Verisign run to several hundred dollars per year, the whole site is run in secure mode so that a digital certificate is not required. An article on Javascript Security in Communicator 4 on the Netscape web site describes how this works. During development of the web site, rather than routing everything througth secure server, codebase principals were invoked so the script could be run locally.
The font used for interface elements is Arial which matches closely that used by Microsoft in Windows.
Together We Can Defeat Capitalism gratefully acknowledges the help of the following people who spent time beta-testing the Anti-Capitalist Operating System:
Amy Berk
Joel Norvell
Kevin Frenzel
Torrey Nommesen (www.triangle-corp.com)
George Berk
Courtney Fink
Ray (www.rtmark.com)
David Lawrence
Jonathon Cross (www.urbanize.org)
Steve Hartzog (www.nukes.org)
Christopher Clark
Caleb Kleppner (www.fairvote.org)
Marc Regnier (www.kitchenprods.com)
Colin Hardman
C7
Lisa Ivy
Marios (www.likno.com)
Frank Szerdy (www.geomatrix.com)
Josh Knox (www.seaturtles.org)
WIRED online
The Media Channel
Copyright Notice
Copyleft 2002