Techworld.com - Microsoft to move graphics outside OS kernel

Courtesy of Slashdot, we have an article regarding Microsoft's plans to reorganize its graphics subsystem. Goodbye kernel space, hello userland.

Simply put, when something goes wrong in the kernel, Very Bad Things happen. When something goes wrong in user space, Bad Things can still transpire, but you will at least have a safe kernel to fall back on to clean things up. Kernels are great at killing processes and reclaiming memory without causing the entire machine to collapse. What happens when the kernel itself barfs all over everything? VBT.

So this is a great move, because every single line of code you add to a kernel is one more way that you can fuck up a machine beyond all recognition. Userland code is safer: mistakes there don't happen at the lowest level of the hardware where the stakes are highest and everything has to be absolutely perfect or else suddenly you're staring at a big blue screen. The idea isn't that relocating Windows' graphics will make it better, but that it will make it less volatile. There will still be bugs, but these bugs will now happen outside the kernel and your system will be able to work around it rather than cause your box to fail pyrotechnically.

Congratulations, Windows! Welcome to 1987-era technology!