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Ask HN: Should Microsoft rebuild Windows as a *nix based OS?

1 pointsby xkyabout 8 years ago
Is it a good idea?

1 comment

alrsabout 8 years ago
The whole point of NT was to provide Win32, POSIX(UNIX), and OS&#x2F;2 all atop the same kernel. No need to rebuild it, NT was built like that.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Windows_NT_3.1#Architecture" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Windows_NT_3.1#Architecture</a><p>Nothing stops Microsoft from putting an entire GNU or BSD userspace atop their NT kernel. They probably built the proof-of-concept 15 years ago.<p>EDIT: Considering that they used the BSD network code to put TCP&#x2F;IP in NT 3.1, it&#x27;s likely that they had at least a minimal BSD userspace running atop the NT kernel circa 1991&#x2F;1992. That could have meant x86, Alpha, or MIPS:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Berkeley_Software_Distribution" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Berkeley_Software_Distribution</a>