<story><title>Minix 3.2.0: One step closer to the promise of highly reliable OS</title><url>https://groups.google.com/d/msg/minix3/LZvqtjhMTas/7kDbH7PYoUYJ</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>ef4</author><text>The monolithic kernel vs microkernel debate has always come down to performance vs simplicity &amp;#38; reliability.&lt;p&gt;Simplicity I&apos;ll grant, but the reliability argument doesn&apos;t really strike me as relevant. Having overseen many thousands of server years worth of uptime, it&apos;s almost never the kernel&apos;s fault when something breaks. Linux is pretty solid. Most of us are far more limited by the reliability of our applications.&lt;p&gt;There are niches where higher-assurance kernels are worth it, and maybe that&apos;s where microkernels can shine.</text></comment>
<story><title>Minix 3.2.0: One step closer to the promise of highly reliable OS</title><url>https://groups.google.com/d/msg/minix3/LZvqtjhMTas/7kDbH7PYoUYJ</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>parley</author><text>Many software engineers strive for modularity and component decoupling, sacrificing some things (e.g. performance, to a varying degree) and gaining others. I agree with this line of thinking, and I see no reason not to apply it to OS kernels as well. The MMU is a &lt;i&gt;really&lt;/i&gt; good friend to have, and I think most systems in this world should appreciate reliability more than performance, especially when it comes to the kernel. I always get a bit sad as I think of the general state of things, remembering that a decade ago I thought today everything would be properly divided and sandboxed with a minimum of necessary privileges. I guess user experience trumps it in many cases.</text></comment>