5 ms·

So now I’m just waiting to hear Microsoft is switching its kernel to Linux. Especially after the switch to chromium.

by taf2 8y ago

eriken 8y ago
I would terminate my apple dependency in a heart beat.
axaxs 8y ago
Not sure if a joke, but I'd absolutely love this. I, as a consumer, would gladly pay good money to be able to use Outlook and the MS Office suite. Regardless of what anyone claims, the linux alternatives are useable but not nearly as good. I used to use Windows with Cygwin, but found I spent way more time doing linux-y things than Windows-y things...so switched away.
- tmh88j 8y ago
  Why not Mac? Best of both worlds.
  - copperx 8y ago
    I would have said the same thing a year ago. Today not so much because Apple hardware prices have skyrocketed. It used to be that a Mac cost 2x the PC equivalent, but now the cost is reaching 3x. For many, especially considering engineering salaries, that's justified. To me, having the familiar GNU toolchain and Linux configuration available at any moment without having to use a VM or Homebrew is worth the downgrade in eye candy.
    - tmh88j 8y ago
      >Today not so much because Apple hardware prices have skyrocketed. He said >I, as a consumer, would gladly pay good money to be able to use Outlook and the MS Office suite. You can do that on a Mac.
    - lostlogin 8y ago
      > Today not so much because Apple hardware prices have skyrocketed. Have they? Or have PC prices fallen fast and far? It’s hard to compare due to the product continually changing (insert some sort of apples with apples joke), but it looks to me like Mac prices have fallen. https://everymac.com/global-mac-prices/mac-prices-us-usa-united-states-america.html https://everymac.com/global-mac-prices/mac-prices-us-usa-uni...
  - axaxs 8y ago
    Personal preference. I don't dislike Apple, I just don't like being so tied to hardware. I've got this little custom NUC I do all my dev work on and have come to really enjoy it. Also, I've come to prefer many things about linux, especially its interface(yes, really).
wbl 8y ago
That would be a tragedy. VMS has much to teach about other ways to do things.
lotyrin 8y ago
From what I understand NT already abstracts Win 32/64 APIs roughly the same way it abstracts the POSIX ones -- if they switched to Linux kernel + an abstraction layer for Win 64 (Official Microsoft Wine, basically) that's one less kernel and one less abstraction to maintain (WSL replaced by the kernel's native interface). I would happily pay for and operate such a product -- especially if I could install such a "Windows" as a subsystem upon some otherwise unmodified Linux distribution.
- mey 8y ago
  Primary issue with this would be driver support. Also there is value in the NT kernal itself in my opinion.
  - acct1771 8y ago
    Because? What advantages does it offer?
    - nxc18 8y ago
      Read Windows Internals. It's a very different design from Linux. Worth learning about another approach to operating systems if you're at all interested. WNT evolved (spiritually) from VMS and has a lot of unique things in its structure. Note also that Windows already kind of is a perfectly serviceable Linux kernel through WSL. That's one of the unique things about NT - it was designed for binary compatibility for programs written for several distinct systems.
      - rkeene2 8y ago
        This compatibility layer approach is quite common. Solaris Linux Branded Zones and FreeBSD Linux Emulation Layer (now defunct?) also did the same thing.
      - chupasaurus 8y ago
        > perfectly serviceable Linux kernel through WSL Namespaces/cgroups?
x0n 8y ago
The irony is, with Windows 10/2019, it's the other way around: Linux has switched its kernel to NT. See WSL.
- sorenjan 8y ago
  GNU/WindowsNT
  - valarauca1 8y ago
    GNU/Xenix is making a come back !! for those you who don't remember Xenix was Microsoft's UNIX that it marketted prior to releasing DOS. Originally the idea was Xenix was the multi-user OS, DOS was the single user.
    - freeone3000 8y ago
      Yes. They shipped a functional userland and shell this time, and targeted developers. And it stuck.
- craftyguy 8y ago
  > Linux has switched its kernel to NT. See WSL This makes absolutely no sense. Linux is a kernel. If Linux 'switched its kernel to NT', it would not be Linux. Perhaps you meant the userspace, which is not dependent upon the kernel?
  - jdub 8y ago
    WSL is an implementation of the Linux kernel ABI on top of the NT kernel. Typical Linux user space does depend on the kernel ABI – most significantly via glibc, systemd and friends, but also to various degrees up through the stack.
    - craftyguy 8y ago
      > Typical Linux user space does depend on the kernel ABI Not really. There are some exceptions (systemd), but there are libc implementations for other kernels, and the GNU userland definitely runs on other kernels without a hard dependency on any Linux kernel ABI.
ksec 8y ago
Or they could open source their Kernel ?
amaccuish 8y ago
Whilst I prefer Linux Distros as OSs to Windows, I genuinely believe the NT kernel has a lot of good stuff, and is definitely better on a lot of stuff (e.g. security)

So now I’m just waiting to hear Microsoft is switching its kernel to Linux. Especially after the switch to chromium.

by taf2 8y ago

So now I’m just waiting to hear Microsoft is switching its kernel to Linux. Especially after the switch to chromium.

eriken 8y ago

I would terminate my apple dependency in a heart beat.

axaxs 8y ago

Not sure if a joke, but I'd absolutely love this. I, as a consumer, would gladly pay good money to be able to use Outlook and the MS Office suite. Regardless of what anyone claims, the linux alternatives are useable but not nearly as good. I used to use Windows with Cygwin, but found I spent way more time doing linux-y things than Windows-y things...so switched away.

tmh88j 8y ago
Why not Mac? Best of both worlds.
- copperx 8y ago
  I would have said the same thing a year ago. Today not so much because Apple hardware prices have skyrocketed. It used to be that a Mac cost 2x the PC equivalent, but now the cost is reaching 3x. For many, especially considering engineering salaries, that's justified. To me, having the familiar GNU toolchain and Linux configuration available at any moment without having to use a VM or Homebrew is worth the downgrade in eye candy.
  - tmh88j 8y ago
    >Today not so much because Apple hardware prices have skyrocketed. He said >I, as a consumer, would gladly pay good money to be able to use Outlook and the MS Office suite. You can do that on a Mac.
  - lostlogin 8y ago
    > Today not so much because Apple hardware prices have skyrocketed. Have they? Or have PC prices fallen fast and far? It’s hard to compare due to the product continually changing (insert some sort of apples with apples joke), but it looks to me like Mac prices have fallen. https://everymac.com/global-mac-prices/mac-prices-us-usa-united-states-america.html https://everymac.com/global-mac-prices/mac-prices-us-usa-uni...
- axaxs 8y ago
  Personal preference. I don't dislike Apple, I just don't like being so tied to hardware. I've got this little custom NUC I do all my dev work on and have come to really enjoy it. Also, I've come to prefer many things about linux, especially its interface(yes, really).

wbl 8y ago

That would be a tragedy. VMS has much to teach about other ways to do things.

lotyrin 8y ago

From what I understand NT already abstracts Win 32/64 APIs roughly the same way it abstracts the POSIX ones -- if they switched to Linux kernel + an abstraction layer for Win 64 (Official Microsoft Wine, basically) that's one less kernel and one less abstraction to maintain (WSL replaced by the kernel's native interface). I would happily pay for and operate such a product -- especially if I could install such a "Windows" as a subsystem upon some otherwise unmodified Linux distribution.

mey 8y ago
Primary issue with this would be driver support. Also there is value in the NT kernal itself in my opinion.
- acct1771 8y ago
  Because? What advantages does it offer?
  - nxc18 8y ago
    Read Windows Internals. It's a very different design from Linux. Worth learning about another approach to operating systems if you're at all interested. WNT evolved (spiritually) from VMS and has a lot of unique things in its structure. Note also that Windows already kind of is a perfectly serviceable Linux kernel through WSL. That's one of the unique things about NT - it was designed for binary compatibility for programs written for several distinct systems.
    - rkeene2 8y ago
      This compatibility layer approach is quite common. Solaris Linux Branded Zones and FreeBSD Linux Emulation Layer (now defunct?) also did the same thing.
    - chupasaurus 8y ago
      > perfectly serviceable Linux kernel through WSL Namespaces/cgroups?

x0n 8y ago

The irony is, with Windows 10/2019, it's the other way around: Linux has switched its kernel to NT. See WSL.

sorenjan 8y ago
GNU/WindowsNT
- valarauca1 8y ago
  GNU/Xenix is making a come back !! for those you who don't remember Xenix was Microsoft's UNIX that it marketted prior to releasing DOS. Originally the idea was Xenix was the multi-user OS, DOS was the single user.
  - freeone3000 8y ago
    Yes. They shipped a functional userland and shell this time, and targeted developers. And it stuck.
craftyguy 8y ago
> Linux has switched its kernel to NT. See WSL This makes absolutely no sense. Linux is a kernel. If Linux 'switched its kernel to NT', it would not be Linux. Perhaps you meant the userspace, which is not dependent upon the kernel?
- jdub 8y ago
  WSL is an implementation of the Linux kernel ABI on top of the NT kernel. Typical Linux user space does depend on the kernel ABI – most significantly via glibc, systemd and friends, but also to various degrees up through the stack.
  - craftyguy 8y ago
    > Typical Linux user space does depend on the kernel ABI Not really. There are some exceptions (systemd), but there are libc implementations for other kernels, and the GNU userland definitely runs on other kernels without a hard dependency on any Linux kernel ABI.

ksec 8y ago

Or they could open source their Kernel ?

amaccuish 8y ago

Whilst I prefer Linux Distros as OSs to Windows, I genuinely believe the NT kernel has a lot of good stuff, and is definitely better on a lot of stuff (e.g. security)