[lug] While out doing research....

Jarosko, Bill Bill_Jarosko at adc.com
Mon Sep 25 15:20:26 MDT 2000


	I came across a white paper from MS titled "Microsoft Windows NT
Server From a UNIX Point of View"   Some of the paper I found laughable like
this excerpt:



Windows NT is a multithreaded microkernel-based operating system. This is
akin to Mach, a multithreaded, microkernel-based UNIX operating system
developed at Carnegie Mellon University. Keeping the base operating system
as small and as tight as possible was one of the primary design goals of
Windows NT. To do this, Microsoft kept in the base operating system only
those functions that could not reasonably be performed elsewhere.
Functionality pushed out of the kernel was put in six nonprivileged servers
known as protected subsystems. The protected subsystems provide the
traditional operating system support to applications through a feature-rich
set of APIs. (Editor's note: With Windows NT version 4.0, the GUI system was
put "back" into the kernel for display performance considerations.)
This design results in a very stable base operating system. Enhancements
occur at the protected subsystem level. New protected subsystems can be
added without modifying either the base operating system or the other
existing protected subsystems.
UNIX systems are markedly different. Functionality is added to the kernel
itself, making it large and hungry for resources. Although good performance
is delivered, adding functionality to the kernel makes the system vulnerable
to the harmful side effects of poorly written kernel extensions.
Furthermore, few UNIX kernels today are dynamically linked. So relinking and
reloading the kernel is often required, which is another systems management
task.  
 /*oh yeah like windows doesn't need to be rebooted....*/



Sorry about the formatting, some of us don't have a company ready to put
UNIX on EVERY machine.....But so far 70 machines... and they stick me with
Windows....geez....

Bill Jarosko
Desktop Support Analyst
ADC Telecommunications
Greenwood Village, CO
720-529-2515





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