The Gadget Tree

Following the lead of Apple, Microsoft has decided to base its Next-Generation OS upon a Unix-style kernel.

Follow up:

I figured that would get your attention. Seriously though, wouldn't that be something? What did Apple do when they needed a basis for OS X? They turned to a Unix style kernel. Imagine for a moment if Microsoft were to do something similar for Windows and use the Linux kernel.

Now obviously this would be virtually impossible, since Linux's license (GPL) is incompatible with a full fledged commercial product like what Microsoft sells. On top of that there is Microsoft's ego, which would have to come down a few hundred notches before even considering something like this, even if it was beneficial for them.

Suspending disbelief for just a moment, let's try to imagine what this product would be like. Firstly when many people think of Linux they picture what current Linux distros look like, but this is incorrect. Linux is just a kernel, the part of the system that interacts directly with the hardware. The user interfaces that most current Linux users are familiar with are based upon the X Window System.

In this theoretical world Microsoft would no doubt replace the X Window System with it's own windowing system and graphical toolkits, much like Apple did with OS X. In theory the end user would never be able to tell that Windows was now based on the Linux kernel, as Microsoft would craft an entire new userland unlike anything on a current Linux distribution.

This is just my late night postulating and in no way intended to be a great work of news, opinion, or anything else. Honestly I probably shouldn't have even posted it. Just for the sake of the one in a billion chance that this should ever come true though...you heard it here first!