This is how macOS is designed. macOS has over 100 kexts in a fresh install (IIRC) to keep the main kernel as small and error-free as reasonably possible without being a full microkernel and taking the performance hit that causes. This makes it a Hybrid kernel, neither a full microkernel (safety at cost of performance) or monolithic kernel (performance at cost of safety).

Other hybrid kernels include Windows and BeOS, though on Windows the kernel/extension separation is less clearly defined.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_kernel

> "Microsoft move drivers, such as GPU, to user space, to escape exactly issues like these. This is likely done for the sake of DRM, which is even worse."

Heck... NO. Drivers are still in kernel space like ever. I don't know where you got that impression. Windows isn't a microkernel, it's got plenty of kernel drivers for everything. Only UMDF Drivers are userspace, and while there are many of them, none of them are as complex as a GPU. A GPU Driver in userspace on Windows would be massively performance bottlenecked. Microsoft even states in their documentation "File system drivers, display drivers (for full display devices, not display-only display devices), and print drivers cannot be UMDF drivers."

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/wd...