[NTLUG:Discuss] MFS launched

[Steve Baker]

Will Senn wrote:

> Monoliths have advantages too, but the main one is performance - with a 
> microkernel you can take a 10% or thereabouts penalty - in this day and 
> age of P4s this isn't a serious roadblock given the serious advantage 
> you gain in stability and security with the microkernel but still, there 
> are nuts who think that speed (unqualified) is everything - hence the 
> 2.4 Ghz P4 surely, must be faster than the 1 Ghz G5...

The way to counter that mentality is to rephrase the cost in performance
as a delay in purchasing.   If you wait {one-Moore's-Law-interval}, your
CPU gets 100% faster for the same price.  How long do you have to wait for
CPU's to get 10% faster?  About 10 weeks maybe.

So, widespread adoption of MicroKernels (with their undoubted benefits
in terms of size, modularity and security) would put back the pace of
computer development by 10 weeks.  That's a one-time never-to-be repeated
loss in exchange for an unending gain - which is almost always a good
decision.

However, a far bigger driver (for me) is availablility, how widespread
it's used, etc.  Switching from Minix to Linux was a wrench - but it
was worth it.  Switching *back*...now that's a wild thought!  :-)

Now - where did I put that AtariST ?

---------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------
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HomePage : http://www.sjbaker.org
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