Microsoft May be Working On New Non-Windows OS

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Estix

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Apr 12, 2012
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Midori has been a very neat project to follow; essentially an OS written entirely (or almost entirely) to run with managed code.

Theoretically, it would be less vulnerable to a lot of common security vulnerabilities and exploits.

From a practical standpoint, though, it's more of a toy for CompSci people than a practical operating environment... Though, if a person can get by nowadays with just a smartphone, there's no reason that this wouldn't be just fine for most people, even before it matures and gains software support.
 
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sean1357

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Looking to see if they develop OS or compiler for FPGA environment. Parallel processing... High speed data communication...
 
qlum

qlum

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this could be another NT where nt gets slowly phased out like the old windows did when xp came out. Windows right now is pretty inefficient so I wouldn't mind a newer version that isn't as all consuming I mean the harddrive and memory requirements of the os itself are just insane compared to linux distro's that even offer more preinstalled programs.
 
sciophobiaranger

sciophobiaranger

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Hopefully it is not like Windows 8. Dreadful.... why the hell do they keep changing the themes? Windows 7 was fine and so was XP. (even though I prefer 7)
 
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Aragorn

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qlum: It wasn't NT that got phased out. All versions of windows were moved over to the NT kernel and the old DOS based kernel was tossed. It would be good to see something like that happen again if Microsoft moved to a more secure more efficient kernel again. This may well come from the project the article referenced (in combination with many other projects that Microsoft is assuredly working on).
 
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vpoko

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To run an OS on an FPGA, or to compile code written in an imperative language for one, you'd have to synthesize a a normal, sequential processor with it. While this can be done with IP cores, no current FPGA can synthesize something like a modern, Haswell CPU. This will always be the case since there is substantial overhead required to make the IC reconfigurable. Actually, FPGA's are going in the other direction, with hard processor cores on-die with the FPGA. What I hope we'll see one day is FPGA's on-die with a modern CPU (or attached as a coprocessor) so they can handle massively parallel tasks while the CPU handles all the sequential stuff that a CPU is good at.
 
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vpoko

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That's an actual MCU on the chip with the FPGA, it's not being synthesized using logic cells. Since it takes several transistors to simulate what would be one transistor in an ASIC, an FPGA will always be at a disadvantage (compared to an ASIC) when it comes to simulating a sequential processor. The other part of it is the clock speed: that Statix 10 isn't going to reach 4 GHz like a modern CPU will.

There are lots of things an FPGA is great for, but I wouldn't waste one to re-invent the wheel.
 
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falchard

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Just what the world needs, another language that is not faster than C++. I thought the point of .NET was to bring a common programming language across multiple architecture.
 
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acadia11

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And C++ was not faster than C, what's your point. And C is not faster than assembly. The issue is that for the far more complex and robust High Level Functionality offered in todays programs , it would be just asinine to try and develop with languages that are far more low level.

A simple example who wants to keep track of pointers today? Or before then registers? No one ... you let the language handle these sort of details ... and focus on how can I say with one function tell the program to launch music when program opens up...
 
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vpoko

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I'm not sure why you thought that, but that's almost the opposite of the .NET framework's design goal. The framework was actually launched with several languages, and new ones (like F#) have been added since, while others (like J#) have been deprecated. The point was to create a single compile target (MSIL) for all supported languages, and have the MSIL run in a virtual machine (the CLR), which would provide common services and interoperability between code regardless of the (.NET) language the original code was written in. It's evident that while the .NET framework is useful for high-level programming, it's not so useful for low-level programming (Windows device drivers are still written in unmanaged code, for example). I have no idea if bringing managed code to low-level programming will work out, but it's certainly not a case of Microsoft backpedaling on any .NET promises (and there has been plenty of that from Microsoft elsewhere... e.g., WPF and Silverlight)
 
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JOSHSKORN

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Hey, as long as I know WHERE- and HOW-to...START...I'm good.

I suspect they might grab some functionality from the XBOX One in terms of voice commands. However, I don't think the keyboard and mouse are doomed.
 
sulumordna

sulumordna

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I think it would be nice if Microsoft went to a Unix or Unix-like platform. I love the Linux distros but I have to keep windows for the software I use. and wine , while great, doesn't support even close to everything I use.
 
iam2thecrowe

iam2thecrowe

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quite frankly couldn't care less what code is used, just so long as its usability and functionality is at the core interest, not tacky windows marketing BS that makes the system harder to use, change for the sake of change.
 
alextheblue

alextheblue

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Only if it natively supports true VR. :D

"Windows only let you look in from the outside. Microsoft Doors lets you step inside."

Prepare to jack in, chummers. If you don't have a Datajack, fire up your NerveGear instead!
 
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Bloob

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And C++ was not faster than C, what's your point. And C is not faster than assembly. The issue is that for the far more complex and robust High Level Functionality offered in todays programs , it would be just asinine to try and develop with languages that are far more low level.

A simple example who wants to keep track of pointers today? Or before then registers? No one ... you let the language handle these sort of details ... and focus on how can I say with one function tell the program to launch music when program opens up...
Click to expand...

The beauty of C / C++ is that I can use a pointer wrappers when I don't want to worry about pointers, but I can still use pure pointers when I need them. Oh, how I have cursed the Java garbage collector at times. Both managed and unmanaged code still have their place (WP apps / games started to appear once the platform supported native).
 
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