You may remember back in the days when we were all eagerly awaiting an OS named Longhorn, mention of a project called MinWin.  The idea was to put the Windows kernel on a serious weight loss program after its original NT kernel bloated itself while transforming into Win2K and WinXP.  We had hoped to see the MinWin kernel, as well as a new file system with Vista but that just didn’t happen.  The MinWin project its self is alive and well, focusing on minimizing and compartmentalizing server code along with possible applications in mobile devices.  Ars Technica takes you on a tour of their current efforts in this article.

“As Windows 2000 was being developed in the second half of the 1990s, Microsoft was firmly focused on building in as much functionality as possible, in a play to push Novell Netware aside and establish Windows NT as the operating system for the business world. When NT was released to manufacturing ten years ago, it was well-received by reviewers, businesses, and enthusiasts alike, and for much of the decade the OS has been considered by some to be the pinnacle of Windows releases. Its headline business features—Active Directory, Group Policy, Internet Information Services, Management Console, Windows Management Instrumentation—have become industry standards. But most importantly, Windows NT served as the technological basis for what can fairly be described as the most successful and well-known software product of all time: Windows XP.”

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