Lessons compatible with message-oriented systems
From the Unix tradition: small parts, clear interfaces, composition, orthogonality, separation of mechanism from policy, and the freedom to replace one component without rebuilding the intellectual world around it.
Some mechanisms clash on the surface. Text streams discard rich object meaning; “everything is a file” differs from “everything is an object”; separate processes contrast with a continuous live environment. System-128 adopts the principles without copying the mechanisms.
Join components through object protocols.
Keep a unified experience over explicit boundaries.
Preserve rich semantic objects, not only bytes.
A replaceable subsystem
A networking stack, compositor, scheduler, package resolver, or device service publishes the protocols it supplies, consumes, and preserves. Multiple implementations may coexist. A replacement is accepted only when its obligations, authority requirements, quality constraints, and evidence satisfy the active collaboration.