Doomsday here we come ! Imagine if the software program its self wrong and attacks as .

Monster job. They should eradicate the operating system first, then get rid of all compilers: from that point, you've got at least some fighting chance of getting this to work. If everything was "perl" for example, it can read and run and interpret itself, and already includes all doc: removing O/S and compilers means *nothing* is unavailable to the core system, and from there, you can work on how to help it adapt to change.

All the code I wrote in the '90s is obsolete and the CD's no longer work. I'm disinclined to do it again because it'll just be the same thing again in 10 yrs. Darpa has done some great and socially worthwhile stuff (besides inventing new ways to kill people) If they pull this off it'll be one of the best.

This seems more like a hardware issue. Emulators exist and many of them work poorly. I know DARPA is all about pushing the envelope, but this seems legitimately impossible.

Good luck on this project. Might as well start by defining the semantic basis of all language and the native interpreter of the human brain. Even that meatware can't do what DARPA wants to do.

I think the planned obsolescence in one of the major operating systems available has been what has caused a lot of problems to begin with. Another thing is people being willing to pay for a new OS when simultaneously upon its release the company is already selling bug fixes for it.
I hope they can pull this off, but its likely pie in the sky hopes. There is just too much money to be made by not allowing such a thing to happen. And as we all know, despite our desires as scientists, it is the almighty dollar (and politics) that wins and keeps us from our full potential (and has for years).

This is promising and, if it can be ported over to PC world, it is going to make some CEOs very unhappy, and some users very pleased.

I am pretty sure this is what an operating system's job is.

LOL, In many ways this already exists as open source programming.
Sabayon KDE is most of the way there now. We need to look at why things are so obtuse and this is clearly because companies do not want to share their programming techniques and data formats or even their hardware specs. I have a very good scanner sitting next to me that can't be used because no one knows what the specs are and the company will not give it out even though the thing is over 15 years old. This is typical.
Open source sidesteps all of these problems. Data formats are open as is the source code and so it is easy to see why and how a program and its data works. It does not go obsolete because it is always updated and the old source is fully known and documented. Some open source data formats are self documenting too.
If they really want this to change then they need to force firms to give out their designs in full.

The making of a system that never goes obsolete is like Admiral Rickover telling the mechanical engineers that the pumps for his reactors would have a ZERO leak rate. The engineers told him it could not be done. He finally settled on 1 drop in 10 years. They told him that could be done!
A system to remain usable it will require the ability to be physically updated along with the improvements to software, ability to fend off attacks (as the computer in person of interest).
A well guarded and maintained system with these properties could be built. The security is another question!