Slashdot Mirror
Tanenbaum-Torvalds Microkernel Debate Continues
twasserman writes "Andy Tanenbaum's recent article in the May 2006 issue of IEEE Computer restarted the longstanding Slashdot discussion about microkernels. He has posted a message on his website that responds to the various comments, describes numerous microkernel operating systems, including Minix3, and addresses his goal of building highly reliable, self-healing operating systems."
You-betcha. I honestly think Mr. Tanenbaum is wasting his time in replying to Slashdot. If the last article proved anything, it's that the majority of responders were stuck on the whole "Linus 'won' this over a decade ago, so STFU!" (No one really 'won' the argument, but that's beside the point.)
There were a couple of good replies in there, but they all got drowned out in the noise. Soooo, I think it's a better idea to focus on how Minix might be made a viable OS rather than arguing the same nonsense all over again. As several of the posters here have already proven, they're not reading Tanenbaum's arguments anyway. So why should we expect this time be any different than the last?
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
You can't seriously believe that running MINIX is going to magically give you expertise that lets you talk about operating system kernel design.
It's apparent from this thread that one needs no expertise whatsoever to talk about operating system kernel design, so running MINIX should if anything overqualify you.
> Why can't we just all get along?
Have you read the article? Tanenbaum basicly starts out by saying this is not a 'fight', but a technical discussion. Communication and debate is an important part of research and development. That's what is being attempted here, at least at face by Tanenbaum. There may be antagonism behind the scenes, or bias in presentation, but that is just human. The primary intent is to advance the state of the art, not fight.
All this 'what's the point' or 'we have this now' type of talk really bugs me. Everything can always be improved, or at least that is the attitude I'd like to stick with.
> When did we collectively forget that everything has its place
Another key component of research and development is to question everything. Not throw everything away and always start over, but to at least question it. Just because monolithic kernels rule the desktop now does does prove that monolithic kernels are inherently the best desktop solution.
In effect it is sometimes good to not even recognize a notion of 'everything has its place'.