____/ Matt on Saturday 12 April 2008 07:28 : \____
> This story barely made it into COLA about six months back---as an
> Inquirer article posted by [H]omer.
>
>
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9043359
>
>> Microsoft shows off leaner kernel for Windows 7
>> Smaller is better for adding virtualization to the OS, says analyst
>> Gregg Keizer
>> October 19, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Microsoft has 200 programmers working on
>> slimming down the Windows kernel for the next version of the operating
>> system, a company engineer revealed in a presentation last weekend at the
>> University of Illinois.
>>
>> "A lot of people think of Windows as this really large, bloated operating
>> system, and that may be a fair characterization, I have to admit," said Eric
>> Traut, who holds the title of distinguished engineer at Microsoft. "[So] we
>> created what we call MinWin. It's still bigger than I'd like it to be, but
>> we've taken a shot at really stripping out all of the layers above and
>> making sure that we had a clean architectural layer there."
>
>> MinWin is so small that it lacks a graphical subsystem. When Traut booted
>> MinWin, for example, its start-up screen showed the standard Windows flag
>> logo, but the design was built from ASCII characters, a technique discarded
>> decades ago by everyone except spammers.
>>
>> The microkernel will be used only internally and won't, as Traut put it, be
>> "productized." Instead, it will be the basis of all upcoming versions of
>> Windows, including the next-generation edition now saddled with the code
>> name Windows 7. Microsoft has given out almost no information about that
>> operating system other than a delivery timeline that puts its final release
>> in 2010.
It's just vapourware Microsoft has been using to freeze the market for a while.
They also have that chant about a Windows Mobile derivative that acts
similarly but all the good Windows developers appear to have left. Microsoft
just promises heaven and will deliver nothing substantial.
--
~~ Best of wishes
"One person in Helsinki can quickly write the core of a sophisticated operating
system."
--John Warden, lead attorney Microsoft
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