Nonsense. The same set of people working on a monolithic kernel could work on a microkernel instead. It’s a purely technical decision.
What you say is akin to saying that you don’t want to divide the storage in your basement into multiple crates instead of one large one, because you somehow would need multiple people to manage and access each individual crate?
My hunch is that you’re somehow applying micro services in web development, and their motivation for existing, to OS design.
This used to be a site for great technical discussion.
I don’t understand your very premise: Why does a monolithic kernel imply “central control” when developing, and a microkernel not? How does one or the other change the “politics” of the kernel? Can you state what you think the difference between a monolithic and a microkernel actually is?
The "politics" isn't a technical paradigm, it's a human one. I'm not arguing the merits of one over the other, I'm offering an answer to OP's question.
Again, what is the difference between a microkernel and a monolithic kernel, and why does it influence the politics of development? And, again, why does a monolithic kernel imply “central control” in development, over a microkernel?
No, the difference is in what parts of the OS are in what privilege level and address space, and how they communicate with each other. It has nothing to do with the shape of teams building them. If someone is building a filesystem or a network protocol for the system, then the difference between that person implementing a server for a microkernel or a kernel module for a monolithic kernel is purely a low-level-detail technical one.
I think we're talking past each other. You want to discuss architecture and that's fine, super.
I'm merely offering a different explanation for why software, which is presently built by humans, might express different configurations based on that fact. It's not a qualitative statement as to the merits of one over the other.
What you say is akin to saying that you don’t want to divide the storage in your basement into multiple crates instead of one large one, because you somehow would need multiple people to manage and access each individual crate?
My hunch is that you’re somehow applying micro services in web development, and their motivation for existing, to OS design.
This used to be a site for great technical discussion.