14 Dec
2022
14 Dec
'22
1:49 p.m.
Andrew Warkentin <andreww591(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Yes, I agree 100% that Mach is a complete and utter
failure as a
microkernel, and seems to have almost single-handedly destroyed the
reputation of microkernels. I don't get why everyone was so focused on
Mach-like kernels when there was a better alternative that had been
around in some form for almost a decade before Mach (QNX wasn't the
first of its kind; it seems to have had pretty significant influence
from Thoth).
I suspect because Mach was available if you had the right Unix licenses
and because it was hot in the research world in the mid 80s. Researchy
types tend to look at what other researchers are doing / using, it seems
to me often without knowledge of or caring about what people are using
in industry. (My two cents, from having worked at universities.)
Arnold