Andrew S. Tanenbaum
American computer scientist living in the Netherlands.
The only real argument for monolithic systems was performance, and there is now enough evidence showing that microkernel systems can be just as fast as monolithic systems.
Microkernels are not a pipe dream. They represent proven technology.
Be thankful you are not my student. You would not get a high grade for such a design :-) […] Writing a new OS only for the 386 in 1991 gets you your second "F" for this term.
A multithreaded file system is only a performance hack.
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.
Security, like correctness, is not an add-on feature.
"He" should be read as "he or she" throughout the book.
I had never engaged in remote multishrink psychoanalysis on this scale before, so it was a fascinating experience.
But in all honesty, I would suggest that people who want a modern "free" OS look around for a microkernel-based, portable OS, like maybe GNU or something like that.
However, as every parent of a small child knows, converting a large object into small fragments is considerably easier than the reverse process.
Will we soon see President Bush coming to Europe with Richard Stallman and Rick Rashid in tow, demanding that Europe import more American free software?
While most people can talk rationally about kernel design and portability, the issue of free-ness is 100% emotional.
The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose from.
Writing a portable OS is not much harder than a nonportable one, and all systems should be written with portability in mind these days.
Fight Features. … The only way to make software secure, reliable, and fast is to make it small.
Unfortunately, the current generation of mail programs do not have checkers to see if the sender knows what he is talking about.
I really am not angry with Linus. Honest. He's not angry with me either.
A lot of other people wanted a free production UNIX with lots of bells and whistles and wanted to convert MINIX into that. I was dragged along in the maelstrom for a while, but when Linux came along, I was actually relieved that I could go back to professoring.
If anyone had realized that within 10 years this tiny system that was picked up almost by accident was going to be controlling 50 million computers, considerably more thought might have gone into it.