
Is POSIX Outdated in the Cloud Era?
POSIX — the Portable Operating System Interface — is the standard API used by UNIX and conforming non-UNIX (including Windows) operating systems to maintain compatibility with each other. The POSIX standard allows applications written for one operating system to work on others with minimal-to-no reworking depending on the other APIs required, greatly reducing the complexity and time required to write cross-platform applications. POSIX is widely adopted, well understood by developers, and well maintained with established compliance tests. But it’s no longer ubiquitous, especially for file access in the cloud space. Cloud object storage systems like Amazon S3 instead offer REST APIs that are very much removed from POSIX concepts. The rapid emergence of new technologies and use cases raises the