[DaveH]

Okay, many people suspect; few truly know. In the upcoming release of future Microsoft Operating Systems, "modules" specifically for the kernel will begin to take shape, but what does this mean for the world?

Well -- for the standard person, it doesn't really mean a whole lot at all. For advanced users, it means that people can customize their Operating System on-the-fly, they will be able to unload/load particular support for specific hardware inside their Operating System. What's this good for? Glad you asked, say I have a Adatap XXXX SCSI HBA and I want to add an additional drive to the system, why I would have to shut it down wouldn't I? EEEEET WRONG. I can plug my drive in, power it up (assuming the power doesn't kill over, surge or whatever -- this will be addressed in furture PSU's as well) Windows will detect my new SCSI drive, if it doesn't I can load the specific module from Microsoft and voila! there goes my support for a new drive on-the-fly. This will also allow me greater control over my CPU, and how many components of the OS are loaded during/before/after start-up. Things like NTLDR are becoming majorly revised as far as Windows 5.1/6.0 are concerned so expect good things.

NOTE: Microsoft is making a very bold initative to open their Operating System more, with modules and XML content, things are more configurable on the user-level instead of on the Manufacturer (Microsoft) People who are learned can now change the way their OS works, feels, acts etc. This will be most noticable with a customizable 3D user interface (UI) which will soon become known through the "BlackComb" project.

[Crispy]

DaveH, on Apr 6 2003, 03:07 AM, said:

... people can customize their Operating System on-the-fly ...

Will that work with all devices? PCI, AGP, IDE and SCSI?

[DaveH]

Yes, in theory; this will work for all devices

[Jay_Stealth]

cool i dont really know much about linux but sounds kinda similar in the way you can recomile your kernel?

[DaveH]

No, this will be available in future versions of the Windows Operating System, sorry for any misconceptions. And no, you cannot recompile the kernel.

[Jay_Stealth]

do you not think that this ill be slightly late seen as you have been able to do this for ages in linux? inlcuding altering software etc. Loading modules seems to just be copying from what you have been able to do in *nix for years.

[zipp51]

What's NTLDR ? And could you give an example of what line of work an "advanced user"might be in to utilize this new tech? Thanks.

[DaveH]

NTLDR is an acronym for "NT loader" it is a small binary or "exe" file contained inside the boot sector of an NT user's hard disk. It is single handedly responible for loading all the NT boot files such as NTOSkrnl.dll and others. Advanced users who are in a "business" situation would be able to modify their BlackComb/LongHorn servers in order to clean up and make the boot-time or Operating System slightly smaller. So I would be able to determine what "modules" I want loaded during boot/run-time.

[jaavaaguru]

I take it that by "Advanced users" you mean "System administrators", since normal users shouldn't be given enough permissions to play around with things like this - that's just asking for trouble. I'm not saying that these users aren't competent enough - I'm just saying that mistakes happen, and people can mess things up accidentally. "Administrator" accounts were invented to deal with the few occasions where messing with things like this is necessary.

[DaveH]

Yes, of course I hope my explanations thus far have been helpful for you guys in understanding this stuff.


- Dave

[John0877]

HA so then the only people responsible if their OS sucks is them not MS haha