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A Brand-New OS?

The press is abuzz with news that Microsoft is working a brand-new, from-the-bottom-up desktop operating system. Where Windows 7 will be based on Vista, the other OS, Midori, starts with a blank slate.

Midori appears to either be based on or takes concepts from a Microsoft Research project, Singularity. And if you've been reading Redmond Report, you probably heard about Singularity here first. Fact is, I've already written about it twice since April (here and here).

Singularity, and thus Midori, attack Vista's No. 1 problem: It's too complex. All these features make software hard to use and unstable, and fosters incompatibility. And you need a monster machine to run it all.

Singularity is designed to be simple and safe. For instance, components are isolated from one another, and code is automatically inspected before running to make sure it works with the OS. And all the components are tested to make sure they interoperate.

Should Microsoft start from scratch with a new OS? Answers welcome at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on July 31, 2008


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