hartz's Journal: MS Windows on a Linux Kernel

Hmmmm ... Microsoft is making money because their Windows operating systems are popular. While it is not the subject of this Journal entry, I do want to briefly touch on why I think this is so:

1) Microsoft "allowed" us to copy and play with Windows and, as a result grow used to and become familiar with it when we were young!

2) As a result, people expect to use Windows in the workplace, be it corporate or otherwise.

3) In similar vein, Microsoft encourages games development with their free DirectX driver. This gains new followers and the cycle continues.

But: I do not think Microsoft will forever be able to continue this road. In particular, I think the strength of Linux's underlying kernel is hurting Microsoft.

But (on the above but) Nothing stops Microsoft from building their own Linux derivative product (except maybe pride). Imagine running Linux with the full true MSFC built in, and the full MS Windows APIs available to programmers. Essentially a "windows wrapper" arround the Linux kernel, sold by Microsoft.

Every game, productivity application, back-office program and specialist application runs on this powerfull operating system unmodified, and so does Linux and X-Windows applications (due to the built-in X-server and MS-style windowing manager).

Microsoft will be able to boast online kernel upgrades, device-driver upgrades, kernel parameter tuning, and have all the Open source application in the world running on their OS instantaneously... Also all the benefits of the open source community's support carries over to this new version of MS Windows

So, I see a day, not too far away, when this will be reality. In fact, sign me up as the first user of MS-Linux!

P.S. Before I get any flames - I am not expert on how an MSFC call is different from an API call, or how many layers of emulation would be required to make this Windows-on-linux-kernel product a reality, but this is probably in any case a moving target.