Linux Journal: Obsolete Microkernel Dooms Mac OS X to Lag Linux in Performance
May 29, 2002, 23:30 (26 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Miles Nordin)
"Disagreements exist about whether or not microkernels are good.
It's easy to get the impression they're good because they were
proposed as a refinement after monolithic kernels. Microkernels are
mostly discredited now, however, because they have performance
problems, and the benefits originally promised are a fantasy.
"The microkernel zealot believes that several cooperating system
processes should take over the monolithic kernel's traditional
jobs. These several system processes are isolated from each other
with memory protection, and this is the supposed benefit.
"Monolithic kernels circumscribe the kernel's definition and
implementation as 'the part of the system that would not benefit
from memory protection...'"
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