Is Microsoft Switching To a Linux Kernel That Emulates Windows?
Comments: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/09/27/193250/eric-s-raymond-is-microsoft... regards Rohan McLeod
On Tuesday, 29 September 2020 11:29:34 AM AEST Rohan McLeod via luv-talk wrote:
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/09/27/193250/eric-s-raymond-is-microsoft -switching-to-a-linux-kernel-that-emulates-windows
There would be obvious benefits to doing that, it's been the case for years. Spending a billion dollars a year on kernel development (a general consensus of the cost of a general purpose OS kernel) is a drain on any business as well as an opportunity cost of what those programmers might otherwise be doing. But MS has a long history of NIH. Remember when they defined TCP as "Transport Control Protocol"? -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
Russell Coker wrote:
On Tuesday, 29 September 2020 11:29:34 AM AEST Rohan McLeod via luv-talk wrote:
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/09/27/193250/eric-s-raymond-is-microsoft -switching-to-a-linux-kernel-that-emulates-windows There would be obvious benefits to doing that, it's been the case for years. Spending a billion dollars a year on kernel development (a general consensus of the cost of a general purpose OS kernel) is a drain on any business as well as an opportunity cost of what those programmers might otherwise be doing.
But MS has a long history of NIH. Remember when they defined TCP as "Transport Control Protocol"?
Russell; you might need to remind me what "NIH" stands for; also closer reading of above reveals it is just a secondhand version of http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8764 which is probably more important for the future of Windows than Linux. Perhaps the "desktop wars" themselves have become archaic in and era; when "tech" has come to mean not much more than apps on mobile phones ? regards Rohan McLeod
On Tuesday, 29 September 2020 1:47:15 PM AEST Rohan McLeod wrote:
But MS has a long history of NIH. Remember when they defined TCP as "Transport Control Protocol"?
Russell; you might need to remind me what "NIH" stands for;
Not Invented Here.
also closer reading of above reveals it is just a secondhand version of http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8764
No, I don't read his blog. I quit reading anything he wrote when he wrote that black people are too stupid to use guns.
which is probably more important for the future of Windows than Linux.
Perhaps the "desktop wars" themselves have become archaic in and era; when "tech" has come to mean not much more than apps on mobile phones ?
The desktop wars have become quiet because phones and tablets are where it's at. For the desktop it's mostly about web browsing. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
Russell Coker wrote:
On Tuesday, 29 September 2020 1:47:15 PM AEST Rohan McLeod wrote:
also closer reading of above reveals it is just a secondhand version of http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8764 No, I don't read his blog. I quit reading anything he wrote when he wrote that black people are too stupid to use guns.
Yes unfortunate; personally I don't have a huge use for authorities of any kind; but I was wondering what you thought of his 'theory' ; "......So, the end state this all points at is: New Windows is mostly a Linux kernel, there’s an old-Windows emulation over it, but Edge and the rest of the Windows user-land utilities /don’t use the emulation./ The emulation layer is there for games and other legacy third-party software........."
which is probably more important for the future of Windows than Linux.
Perhaps the "desktop wars" themselves have become archaic in and era; when "tech" has come to mean not much more than apps on mobile phones ? The desktop wars have become quiet because phones and tablets are where it's at. For the desktop it's mostly about web browsing.
Well personally I also find the novelty of reading books and particularly writing essays on mobile devices; somewhat under-whelming ! regards Rohan McLeod
On Tuesday, 29 September 2020 4:27:46 PM AEST Rohan McLeod wrote:
"......So, the end state this all points at is: New Windows is mostly a Linux kernel, there’s an old-Windows emulation over it, but Edge and the rest of the Windows user-land utilities /don’t use the emulation./ The emulation layer is there for games and other legacy third-party software........."
That's already been done many times. When NT came out it emulated Windows 3.1. OS/2 emulated Windows 3.1 in all modes. The Wine project emulates Windows on Linux. Lots of OSs emulated DOS. Apple emulated M68k on PPC. Later they emulated PPC on Intel and also had fat binaries that could run on both Intel and PPC. Now Apple are about to do something similar with the transition to ARM. Running Windows apps on a Linux kernel is nothing new, no technical challenge for anyone, and certainly not something difficult for MS to do. It would give MS another chance at the phone/tablet market which I'm sure they haven't given up on as well as a chance at supercomputers.
The desktop wars have become quiet because phones and tablets are where it's at. For the desktop it's mostly about web browsing.
Well personally I also find the novelty of reading books and particularly writing essays on mobile devices; somewhat under-whelming !
The vast majority of computer use is not reading books or writing essays. In the 80s there were dedicated wordprocessing PCs. Such things could appear on the market again. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
Hello Russell and Rohan, Snip
The vast majority of computer use is not reading books or writing essays.
In the 80s there were dedicated wordprocessing PCs. Such things could appear on the market again.
I still have DECmates, a micro PDP8 that was a dedicated wordprocessor. Unfortunately they need major service before I would apply power, dried out electrolytics being the major issue. There were advantages, the (l)users did not need to understand a general command line OS, they had a text based menu, and provided they understood backing out to earlier menus, and reading the copious manual, they were very effective. I have daisy wheel printers of the same era, and sitting there a DEC LN03 laser printer, the OPC belt has probably aged too much, along with the toner, and possibly some of the electronics. I even have a genuine PDP8 that was a wordprocessor, complete with four 8" floppy drives, and the daisy wheel printer in a desk for it. Now put a suitable dedicated front end on Raspbian on a Raspberry Pi, and it could happen again, but a small and low power device.
My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
Regards, Mark Trickett
On Tue, Sep 29, 2020 at 04:27:46PM +1000, Rohan McLeod wrote:
Well personally I also find the novelty of reading books and particularly writing essays on mobile devices; somewhat under-whelming !
I do; almost all,: of my reading these; days on an; android! tablet --- epubs, pdfs, etc. I, mostly use fbreader and mupdf. sometimes coolreader. it's much more; convenient than dead-tree books. my android; phone gets used only: for phone, sms, calendar, and calculator. also; fbreader installed for emergency ebook reader ! I don't really; use any other apps on either. 99.9999% of apps are worthless crap; or worse. craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>
Rohan McLeod via luv-talk wrote:
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/09/27/193250/eric-s-raymond-is-microsoft...
Trent W. Buck via luv-talk wrote:
Rohan McLeod via luv-talk wrote:
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/09/27/193250/eric-s-raymond-is-microsoft... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines
I suppose the question that is raised in the article, on which this report seems to be based; "Last phase of the desktop wars?" (yes also a question !) http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8764 Goes to the future of Windows, in an era when desktop /laptop are becoming increasingly irrelevant; and Microsoft starts to consider development and support, as more of a cost, than an income source. This is probably of no interest to most users of the many distributions of Linux , particularly on mobile hardware; but for whatever reason, I seem to find interesting the question of whether: -it will eventually finish up as just a proprietary layer on top of a Linux kernel, ( like Apple on a FreeBSD kernel) or -open-source it and Microsoft moves to just selling support (like Red Hat) or -perhaps they might abandon it altogether regards Rohan McLeod
participants (5)
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Craig Sanders -
Mark Trickett -
Rohan McLeod -
Russell Coker -
Trent W. Buck