Ask HN: What is Windows 11 under the hood?
So, does anyone have any hard facts about this rollover? I have so many questions:
- Are Windows services still going to be the elaborate mechanism they've always been, or is this going to merge into being like Linux as well?
- What about the folder tree structure? Will it still be Windows-like (ProgramFiles+Windows+Users) or the Linux style?
- Are we expecting any Win8 UX abominations where things aren't where the users expect, or is this going to go like WinME-from-98 back in the day where it's functionally similar but the insides are different?
- How backwards-compatible will this be? Can I still run x86 Win98-era stuff, or will this have to become another VM experience? For that matter, is there any baked-in VM-like capability now for Home edition yet (i.e., like Wine)?
- I'm sure I'm missing some questions, so please ask them as well.
EDIT: first post, forgot to parse bullets
I quite like the way Windows services work, it's a well defined API and I've always been able to do what I needed. Most importantly it has been consistent for twenty five years now.
Why? Unix is rather flawed. We've learnt a great deal in the last 30 years, we can do better rather than get stuck on an ancient standard.
I'm not sure if Unix is the ancient one or that Windows is the ancient one who can't let go of backward compatibilities and is stuck with all the legacy parts all over to drag its innovation for decades.
* One of the main Unix innovations was piping between processes. Yet piping used text-based interface. Today we has the resources and knowledge to make a much more structured interface. Attempts to do this on shell level exist but are clunky and not sufficiently systemic (you end up having to reimplement all of coreutils, at which point you end up with something like 50% of features and not supporting all userland). Maybe if we had a higher level interface...
* Other environments showed you can have much more mobility between your local resources and network resources (e.g. VMS clustering, Erlang's VM). Imagine running a process elsewhere and have it communicate seamlessly with your processes, and being able to move it seamlessly as well.
* Few guarantees on file writing/data preservation. Making a program which is actually reliable is not trivial at all.
* The permission model is arguably too simple (while Windows permissions are too complex). Should we find a middle ground?
* There's room for a less monolithic kernel design. (I know what Linus thinks of it - well, if you define any efficient microkernel interface as 'not a microkernel' of course you win by default).
Linux can of course eventually evolve towards this, but it would be far from its Unix heritage if it does.
This isn't news, if you look through any beta release of Windows you'll know that they all start off looking identical to their predecessors, mainly because they share a lot of code.
- Rounded corners
- The start menu is centered now
- A few new wallpapers
- Some things like calc.exe have a new skin
I'm still not certain what the Unique Selling Point of Windows 11 is. They haven't stressed what it is in their marketing. Guess I'll just download a Windows11 ISO and find out