

Windows Could Use a Rush of Fresh Air - allenbrunson
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/technology/29digi.html

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Xichekolas
It seems like this article blames Window's bloat on the fact that it's not a
microkernel, which makes no sense. Linux is also a monolithic kernel, and has
remained (more or less) monolithic even though Andrew Tanenbaum has argued
with Linus for years about it. Linus recently had this to say:

> _"The whole argument that microkernels are somehow "more secure" or "more
> stable" is also total crap. The fact that each individual piece is simple
> and secure does not make the aggregate either simple or secure. And the
> argument that you can "just reload" a failed service and not take the whole
> system down is equally flawed."_

Window's bloat is from providing backwards compatibility for 20 years of
poorly written third party apps and weird hardware - along with Microsoft's
habit of bundling everything possible with their operating system... it has
nothing to do with being a micro/monolithic kernel.

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allenbrunson
this article reveals that the next version of windows won't be a from-the-
ground-up rewrite, as had been rumored. microsoft's research arm built just
such an operating system, however.

