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Date:      Sat, 12 Feb 2005 21:55:00 +0100
From:      Anthony Atkielski <atkielski.anthony@wanadoo.fr>
To:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Instead of freebsd.com, why not...
Message-ID:  <1188345459.20050212215500@wanadoo.fr>
In-Reply-To: <5637FDDF-7D32-11D9-B134-000D933E3CEC@shire.net>
References:  <LOBBIFDAGNMAMLGJJCKNGEGHFAAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com> <5637FDDF-7D32-11D9-B134-000D933E3CEC@shire.net>

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Chad Leigh -- Shire.Net LLC writes:

> After taking out all the  kernel level stuff for the GUI and other
> performance enhancements that MS has made for the gamers and other 
> people, I would say that it is probably true that the NT kernel and the
> BSD kernels are in the same order of magnitude of stability.  Dave 
> Cutler and his crew from DEC did a good job with VMS and VAX/ELN and 
> RSX-11M and I would assume that they would do the same job in their 
> kernel design and implementation for M$.

They did.  The kernel is excellently written.

Microsoft threw a lot of that away in favor of the gamers you mention
and of clueless Windows desktop users generally.  The solid NT kernel is
still there, but MS has drilled a great many large holes through it.

> disclaimer:  I have not seen the source to NT but I do know the
> reputations of the implementors and designers of (at least the 
> original) NT kernel.

I have seen the source to both NT and the Win 9x family, and the
difference is like night and day.  The former was clearly written by a
lot of people with a lot of prior experience under their belts; the
latter was clearly written by people who had never written much of
anything before they started working on Windows.

-- 
Anthony




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