How often have you rebooted your TV set in the past year? Probably a lot less than you have rebooted your computer. Of course there are many "reasons" for this, but increasingly, nontechnical users don't want to hear them. They just want their computer to work perfectly all the time and never crash. MINIX 3 is a project to develop an operating system as reliable as a TV set, for embedded systems and mission critical applications, but also for future $50 single-chip laptops and general desktop use. The focus is being small, simple, and reliable. Note: This is the last entry for the Alternative OS Contest.
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Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2006-01-04
At the very least this will put some pressure on linux to become more reliable by putting less performance critical subsystems into user space.
Not only linux,any OS.
I do see the sense of what you are saying about a stable OS being a good example for fellow OSes to live up to, be it Linux or any other.
Now compare that ideal path towards The Optimum to the actuality that Minix has been around longer than Linux and at this moment poses not even the slightest challenge to the market share of any mainstream OS. And maybe not to any niche OS either, but there are more niches than I keep tabs on, so perhaps I've overstated that a bit. (;
I'm still pulling for the paradigm you and tuttle have outlined, but I don't think it has actually arrived yet. On the other hand if no one sets a good example we can't expect stability to magically emerge from the Singularity. Oh, wait ...
Member since:
2006-03-01
At the very least this will put some pressure on linux to become more reliable by putting less performance critical subsystems into user space.