Hello Dean!

I hope your day is going well!
So I was talking with a few friends on osu! and we were on the discussion of osu! lazer. I shared with them an idea that has stuck in my mind since the first time I had logged onto osu! lazer, an operating system based upon the GUI of osu! lazer. So, I know this sounds completely dumb and complicated, but just hear me out please!

The GUI of osu! lazer is highly based upon a light, modern feeling GUI, and is heavily based upon menus and ease of use so the user could get exactly where they need to be without much hassle. Now let's think about how the osu! lazer GUI could be used in an operating system.

For this description, PPY is used interchangeably with a future decided name.
Main menu: I open up my PC and am greeted with a Welcome to ppy! and a logon screen. From here, you would log into your ppy account which allows you to use extra online features in the operating system itself. The operating system is heavily based upon having a community of it's own. I log onto my ppy account (having an osu! or osu! lazer account previously allows you to use your osu! account as your ppy account.) and am then greeted by the ppy cookie (this could be changed, the cookie is just the best I could think of right now). In addition, I have top bar which displays the local time, my local weather, and has spots for either more information I can set myself (stocks, news preview, etc) and/or a few quick access shortcuts. It also displays an interactive profile picture, which can be clicked to display an ability to logout, or view/change account related settings (such as the pfp itself, username, display name, online status, etc.). I click on the cookie which expands outward into a menu allowing me to enter my application menu, the OS settings, the built in internet browser (the browser would be interesting and if you liked this project idea that would have to be decided later), and the log off/shut down menu.

Application menu: This is where the osu!lazer GUI comes into play the most. You are greeted by a list of all your applications. Imagine the osu!lazer menu of beatmaps but instead it lists favourite applications. osu!lazer, Minecraft Launcher, Firefox Browser, Steam, SoundCloud, etc. all listed out. I flip over to the Collections menu and see my customised categories for my applications, Gaming, Utilities, School Apps, Game Creation, and anything else you could think of. I go back to No Grouping and search for osu!lazer. The application pops up showing information on the sidebar (think where the beatmap info, leaderboards, etc are in lazer) including the application name and icon, time I spent on the app, when it was last used, the Collections I have placed it into, and a Read More button to see more detailed information. Then at the bottom (where the leaderboards are in lazer) I see where ppy account integration shines on the application level. It shows me my friend peppy is currently using osu!lazer. They have been using the application for 3 hours, and since this app supports ppy!os integration, it shows me that he is currently playing the map The Quick Brown Fox - The Big Black [WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG BLACK?]. I also have the ability to use the OS integrated messaging system to message him to ask if he wants to multi. This pops up in a small message box on his screen in the far left corner, with a simple prompt showing that I have messaged him. I look at the list of users again and see that some of my other friends have recently used the application.

In app options: I click into Firefox Browser, an application that is not fullscreen. However, in this operating system, all applications are fullscreen and rely on keyboard shortcuts for use of other features of the OS. If I want to switch apps, I can use F12 to enter into an interface showing all open apps, and the ability to quickly navigate to the main menu, application menu, or settings. However, if I want to quickly switch apps, Alt+F12 allows me to quickly switch to the next open app, rotating through all open ones. F11 allows me to move the app into halfscreen mode, where the application size can be changed to work concurrently with other apps. If an app is open, it allows me to choose which app to put on the other side. If no apps are open, it defaults to a less detailed application menu. I can use F10 to bring up the Options bar, think Windows start bar. It displays time, weather, and other widgets I add, as well as a dropdown tray menu. F9 opens ppy!messaging and social features, such as Bancho would in lazer. It displays the online and offline friends, and allows me to message them and see what apps they are in (if integration is supported it will show the other information). By clicking on their name, easy web integration displays their ppy page, or osu! page if they have set it to display that. From there your other function keys are able to be keybinded to anything else! Moving your cursor to the top right of the app screen opens a floating menu allowing an app close and an app minimize option. Closing and minimizing apps bring you back to whatever screen you opened the app from.

Community options: ppy!os would be heavily community based. Global chats, global friend system, operating system-wide forums, etc. Users are able to gain roles like OS Administrators, Community Developer, Community Manager, etc. In addition, the operating system would have community created skins. Things such as bar colours, menus, backgrounds, fonts, cursors, and essentially everything not decided by an app would be skinnable. Skins would be made for the community by volunteers who are community members, not by people paid to make the skin who will be making a profit. Popular skinners could get recognition by special badges on their ppy account. Opening the F9 menu can show you a lot about your friends accounts. When you open F9 you are greeted by a two tier screen. The top half shows a list of your friends accounts displaying their username, profile picture, current app/ppy integration info, and any special badges showing titles or ranks. The bottom half shows your currently open ppy!messaging chats. This would be similar to bancho chats, like your private messages, then global chats. Chats such as #global (#osu equiv), #[language], and #skinhelp [#modhelp equiv], would return, but with addition #helpdesk channels and more channels for interests like #videogames, #art, and more. In addition, a small bar at the bottom would allow for quick navigation to ppy OS related websites like forums.ppyos.sh, skins.ppyos.sh (hypothetical sites), etc. More of these could be added if this program went through, but these were some basic designs I came up with myself!

This is a very barebones idea so far! If you would be interested in discussing it more it would be great! Even so, you are the dev, I'm just designing this idea haha, idek if it's that possible. I was thinking it could be built on a Linux kernel, and highly open sourced like other ppy projects.

Thanks for reading this and looking over it. Like I said, I know you are really busy with Lazer and all but if you wanted to discuss it as another possible project it'd be really cool. Maybe even some osu! integration to the OS for those who are coming into the OS from other things with ppy haha. Once again, thanks for reading!