Microsoft's Non-Windows OS

[Apollo]

Well they might do what Apple did with OS X and just redisgn their operating system from the ground up. This will probably be the best idea, but it isn't done and they arn't going to market this as the the new Windows so don't cross your fingers.

Is Microsoft's 'Singularity' the OS of the future?

Posted by Mike Ricciuti | 40 comments
Microsoft's TechFest internal science fair wasn't just about social networking and telescopes.
The company also discussed new technology closer to its roots: an operating system kernel concept called "Singularity" intended as a showcase for some cutting-edge computer science.

The software isn't the next version of Windows or a reheated DOS. It's a prototype of an operating system intended for computer science research that Microsoft said demonstrates the possibilities for software that is more dependable and secure than contemporary OSes (yes, that includes Windows).

"Singularity is not the next Windows," Rick Rashid, senior vice president of Microsoft Research, said in a statement. "Think of it like a concept car. It is a prototype operating system designed from the ground up to test-drive a new paradigm for how operating systems and applications interact with one another. We are making it available to the community in the hope that it will enable researchers to try out new ideas quickly."

The Singularity architecture
(Credit: Microsoft Research)

If you're itching to take a look at Singularity, Microsoft has made a research development kit available for free download from its CodePlex Web site.

The RDK includes source code, build tools, test suites, design notes, and other background materials. Microsoft says the software, governed by a special Microsoft Research license, can be used for noncommercial, academic projects only.

Microsoft said Singularity has been in development for more than five years. "More than 40 Microsoft Research researchers and interns have collaborated on the project, which incorporated their ideas on security, programming languages, tools, and operating systems--and accelerated their own research," according to a Microsoft Research post describing the project.

The roots of the project stem from research into what a modern operating system would look like and how it would behave. Microsoft points out that Windows, like Unix, Linux and the MacOS, all trace their origins back to Multics, an operating system that originated in the mid-1960s. In essence, the operating systems we use today are built on foundations that are more than 40 years old.

Singularity is written in an extension of C#, Microsoft's high-level programming language, as opposed to C or C++, which typically have been used for current operating systems. By using C#, Microsoft said, the researchers prevented a class of errors known as buffer overruns, "thereby eliminating an area of vulnerability typically exploited by worms and viruses."

Singularity is clearly a research project. It's an operating system kernel without a user interface. Still, as Larry Dignan at ZDNet points out, it does make you wonder whether some folks at Microsoft would like to start over from scratch with the next version of Windows.

Given the driver troubles, legacy issues, and compatibility headaches with Vista, that might not be a bad idea.

 

[_AJ_]

You can put a shiny new body on a beat up engine but it still aint gonna perform any better.

ha ha you didn't even read any of it

using your analogy microsoft have built a brand new engine from the ground up but haven't even started on the body yet

you could say it about vista hell even osx but not this

 

[andysayshi]

I think it would be great to see Microsoft start a whole new commercial OS. They've always been tied down with the baggage of backward compatibility. It'd be nice to see what their engineers are really capable of without such constraints.

 

[davy]

you guys should try it out.

it's really clever stuff.

if microsoft could make it viable, it would COMPLETELY blow all linux, unix, bsd, and beos out of the water.

 

[Apollo]

I will be very excited to see this when the final product is out. I know nothing about code or all that stuff to play with it in this state, but man, just imagine. This would shut up Microsoft's critics of windows for a long time. And talk about a revolution in the OS market. People were starting to say this was the end of any real innovation in operating systems, but here Microsoft comes.

 

[Jannus]

The Singularity license is complicated.

Singularity is open source, but it is not FOSS. If you contribute to Singularity, you appear to grant Microsoft the right to use your code in any of its proprietary software. Microsoft is permitted to take the code you have contributed and sell it as their intellectual property. Interestingly, however, you (as a programmer contributor or user) are expressly forbidden to use Singularity in any "activity which purpose is to procure a commercial gain to you or others." You essentially agree to become an unpaid employee of Microsoft.

"Microsoft is granted back, a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, and sub-licensable license to, for any purpose, reproduce, publicly perform or display, install, use, modify, distribute, make and have made, sell and transfer modifications to and/or derivative works of the Software source code or data that you provide to Microsoft through the CodePlex tool or otherwise make directly available to Microsoft."

According to the EULA, only Microsoft is allowed to make money off Singularity. Something tells me Microsoft is going to have a hard time attracting open source programmers.


http://penguinpetes.com/b2evo/index...arity_what_is_the_mess_w&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

 

[Apollo]

The Singularity license is complicated.

Singularity is open source, but it is not FOSS. If you contribute to Singularity, you appear to grant Microsoft the right to use your code in any of its proprietary software. Microsoft is permitted to take the code you have contributed and sell it as their intellectual property. Interestingly, however, you (as a programmer contributor or user) are expressly forbidden to use Singularity in any "activity which purpose is to procure a commercial gain to you or others." You essentially agree to become an unpaid employee of Microsoft.

"Microsoft is granted back, a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, and sub-licensable license to, for any purpose, reproduce, publicly perform or display, install, use, modify, distribute, make and have made, sell and transfer modifications to and/or derivative works of the Software source code or data that you provide to Microsoft through the CodePlex tool or otherwise make directly available to Microsoft."

According to the EULA, only Microsoft is allowed to make money off Singularity. Something tells me Microsoft is going to have a hard time attracting open source programmers.


http://penguinpetes.com/b2evo/index...arity_what_is_the_mess_w&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Well I don't see how this is surprising seeing how Microsoft is a company for profit, and they don't want someone putting a GUI on their technology before they do. And I doubt they will have problems attracting programmers. This is a pretty cool thing to be apart of, and while you arn't getting paid to write code for it. How many open source programmers get paid anyway?