Are the operating systems of the future immutable?

Are the operating systems of the future immutable?

Developers talk a lot about “immutability.” Outside the technical world, it usually means something negative: unmoving, inflexible, and entrenched. However, in the technical field, these features become an advantage and mean that a system is reliable and reproducible.

Like many concepts and trends in technology, it’s nothing new. NixOS (more on it later) has existed for over twenty years, and ChromeOS is probably the most widely used immutable operating system (OS). However, the widespread adoption of containers with Docker just over 10 years ago brought the concept to broader attention.