[syschick]

Disclaimer: I worked at MSFT for 14 years, but that was >10 years ago, in Servers (Exchange, ISS) not kernel. But I've debugged windows stresslab crashes across the network, before windbg got good :)

Is it difficult to transition? Yes, in that if you spend 10 years learning SystemA, then it will take some time with SystemB to build up to the _same level of expertise_ that you enjoyed on SystemA.

The neat thing about learning one OS or system _deeply_ is that the deep knowledge gifts you with frameworks for learning the next-system.

I wrote software on various *nix'es during my university time, then worked on OS/2 (yes, "OS-who?"), Windows, and now I'm at Google, (my work involves 80% Linux 20% Win). It took me some time to re-build my skills on each environment/platform, but it's been a great ride and a lot of fun.

(P.S. earhart@ pointed me to this thread, and says hi to all y'all: Evan, JonO, JVert, LandyW? Dan?)