MinWin will run a command line interface in 25Mb and 40MB of RAM ..don't make me laugh!!!!

Puppy Linux is about that size and can run in that sort of memory and it is a full blown Linux distro.

Puppy has a full desktop with internet, email, office productivity, media editors and all sorts as well.

And yes it has a web server as well as file and print servers etc..

MinWin will only have a command line interface and a web server (MinIIS ...?).

Go on Microsoft do your worst.

Just shows what bloatware MS products are.

And while I has the keyboard, Windows 7.

Great one guys, "ME II <couch> Vista is falling. We need a replacement quick."

It will be Vista with all the rubbish, like DRM, removed or worked around and nothing more or they won't do it in 3 years.

It already looks just like Vista.

Forget the rest.
It'll never make the release.

Buy which time KDE 5 or 6 will be out and so will Gnome 4 with all the stuff in Vista and Mac, will be far better and will have Ubuntu machines on the shelves of PC World.

Look at Dell.

Go on Microsoft, do your worst.

You heard it here first!

@bigal hmm... so you think that Mac OS X is built on linux.

I must say, you are as well informed as clearly argued

@the argument

All this is swings and roundabouts unless you look at the real issue, lack of awareness. I know people who literally couldn't tell whether they were using windows or linux on my laptop, and most people don't care.

Linux is making headway in this department, the next step is to get over the feeling that you're conducting some kind of scientific experiment by installing a GNU/linux based OS

well there is an ambitious project with the hope or lowering the win2k3 kernel footprint. It is called tinykrnl although i haven't heard of any developments lately, they do work with reactos another promising project which also works with wine. Maybe with all those projects sharing code, they can come up with a good solution for a opensource windows implementation.

http://www.tinykrnl.org./
http://www.reactos.org/

I can see two groups that are still using windowns: gamers (including myself, though i have linux on dual boot) and imbeciles

any explanations needed?

OT: even if ms will take a step in the right direction with windows 7 it will be nothing compared to the progress linux will make in the same time, so no need to get excited


I don't think the kernel can be shrink. A very slight increase is consider good. Likely only with 64bits version and mininium 2 G ram, entry level 4 G and runs well on 8 G. No more swap files when system runs on 8 G ram.

This sounds interesting, hopefully this initiative actually gets pushed and is successful.
Max: OSX if I remember correctly is BSD based not Linux with an ugly kernel wrapper or something, but yes they have done a good job covering things up.

As for Linux on the desktop, great strides have been made but there is one MAJOR issue that does not get much attention, it's not the UI anymore, thats on par with the rest, it's the package management systems when installing applications. On Windows (and I assume OSX) you download a program's installer, run it, and it essentially just works, same goes for most FOSS apps like aMSN (love that program btw). On Linux the use has to worry about library dependancies and which distro they are using and get the specific package for their distro, what WM they use, etc. WTF? Why should the use worry about all this. All the use on the desktop should know to install an app is that they have Linux, download the linux installer, install the app and it should run. no "sudo apt-get" or whatever the command is (I love using a gui but am not afraid of the CLI, I learned DOS 23 years ago as a 2 year old). Autopackage is on the right track. The installer should be distro-agnostic, detect all installed libraries and other apps, install the required libraries, and ensure not to disrupt other applications requiring a different version of the same library, do any other required tasks, then install the app. All of this should be done in the background initiated by a GUI if at all possible and if not then tell the use what they need to do, avoid the CLI whenever possible. Once this is the case then Linux will be ready for the average user on the desktop. I am a computer nerd, I studied computer engineering, I am more than capable of using Linux as it is but I choose to make my life easier and use XP, but avoid other MS apps if at all possible (i.e. I use WordPerfect, SeaMonkey, aMSN, etc).
So when Linux gets to that point I will switch, or use Windows 7 if it comes first and hopefully is a more efficient and smaller kernel.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

List all the companies you want. Linsux will never be accepted until users accept it. Never gonna hppen. As much as the geeks love it, that is all it going to remain the OS of geekdom. Too hard for the average Joe public user to use.

Apple have skinned it very well, the rest have a looonnngggg way to go. Plus developer support for mainstream applications sucks. Along witht he fact the a great many home users game on PC's. Linux sux 4 that.

Gain developer support, Linux has achance, other wise ta ta.

Don't have sound on this PC, so I don't know what the bloke was saying, but I clearly saw a Windows 3.1 launch screen at one point.
Obviously, if they're tinkering with 3.1, the kernel will be a lot smaller !
As far as Windows 7 is concerned, it looks a lot like yet more bling. They're talking about "a new user interface paradigm" and "high-level graphics included at the OS level".
Oh great. And I thought they were going to make a better OS. Going straight for a more bloated one, as usual.

...to point out that my full-featured Linux system is running a kernel with lower overheads than anything he can manage with MinWin? 2MB on disk, 22MB in RAM. That's with drivers for sound, 3D graphics, FireWire, gigabit Ethernet, SATA ... oh yes, and a Wacom graphics tablet.

Seems like a step in the right direction. They not only acknowledged the "bloat" problem but are taking steps to fix it. Cool.

(PS: To all those talking about your Linux kernel: No one cares.)

Who cares what Linux's kernel size is? The cat is *so* out of the bag with regards to Linux and its pros-and-cons that one has to wonder if there's anyone left who seriously thinks Linux will truly start eating more of Windows' lunch on the desktop anytime in the relevant future. Vista's flop doesn't matter, either. XP will be around for a *long* time.

Pretty Sure its still 32 bit Kernel, it is characterized by ethier |_-| or |-_| with _ or - 16 bit compnets of full 32 bit string, where Ultimate is |_-| only & wastes time needless placing all highs as first 16 bit part of entire 32 bit string, yet mechanically it is almost impossible to matter, if right in first place, as well as being choppie, while ethier allows intial string to start with - or _ & exercises resistances in small 45 NM wires much better (only 1/4 of wire is needed, rest due to initial resistances are lowest goes flow, so to vary flow to change path with each stroke). So HOT spots in Wire are less & Some Variation more prevalent, not LOCKED in & just becoming too fast or low in resistance, therefore more crash prone, with say _ _ _ _ as in gaming with no end point, just assumption that string is correct. Too Hot for Media Home, Smmoth variation with no concern about intialization is BEST..YES,YES?

Signed:PHYSICIAN THOMAS STEWART VON DRASHEK M.D.

microsoft cares in so much that they want to learn from their mistakes and take what good they can from the success of others, which only makes sense in a competitive market. the linux kernel is very much cared about. 
it's a good thing, we'd like to see microsoft windows have a solid, efficient kernel with equally efficient features built on top.

If Inq "journalists" actually read the pieces they linked to (or in this case watched the video), you would've noted that @ 7:20 Mr. Traut states (and I paraphrase) "there are no plans for productization, this is just an internal (build)". 

At no point does he say even imply "The people at Vole have been a mite concerned that the Windows kernels are getting a little bloated and have told Traut to come up with something a little more efficient." as you claim.

Do you people have editors? Do you have fact-checkers? Do you even think about the things you write, or is your job purely to come up with sensationalistic headlines to attract readers? 

[All of the above. Ed. µ]

how about a mirror, 2.2k/sec is killing me

Who cares about Linux?

hmm let's see...

IBM
HP
Novell
DELL
Canonical
Linksys
Buffalo
Dlink
FIC
Nvidia
ATI
AMD
INTEL
SONY
Sun
GOOGLE
APPLE
PALM
Mcafee
symantec
Most non profit organizations in the states
Most government agencies in the states
Most schools in the states.
Most of Asia
Most of Europe
Most of South America
Most of Africa
Most of the Middle East.
Parts of the UK.

Linux gets funding and support from most of the big names within this industry and as such advances every 6 months vs every year for Mac os and every 5 years for windows.

Now, Linux is classified as being in the same league as Mac OS and Vista in terms of productivity, multimedia, eye candy and ease of use, but with added flexibility to function as a kiosk, a desktop, a mail/web/file/irc/proxy/server/media/render server, etc without complications or compromise.

Those who discount Linux as a viable alternative to the commercial mainstream are either ignorant or, are getting paid by the likes of Microsoft., which like Sony want to force everyone to 'license/rent' their technologies.

...and like Sony, Microsoft installs rootkits/spyware into your system without the user knowing.

Open source has the advantage of everyone looking at the code, which keeps the code honest and efficient.