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by mrweasel 695 days ago
The original Windows NT had microkernel architecture, where a driver/server could not crash the OS. So no, Crowdstrike didn't have an option really, but Microsoft did.

As PC got faster, Microsoft could have returned to the microkernel architecture, or at least focused on isolating drivers better.
3 comments
jsheard 695 days ago
They've done it to a degree but only for graphics drivers, Windows is (AFAIK) unique amongst the major OSes in that it can nearly always recover from a GPU driver or hardware crash without having to reboot. It makes sense that they would focus on that since graphics drivers are by far the most complex ones on most systems and there are only 3 vendors to coordinate API changes with, but it would be nice if they broadened it to other drivers over time.
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nullindividual 695 days ago
NT was never a true microkernel. Most drivers are loaded into the kernel. Display drivers being a huge pain point, subsequently rolled back to user space in 2000, and printer drivers being the next pain point, but primarily with security -- hence moving to a Microsoft-supplied universal print driver, finally in Windows 11.
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DaoVeles 695 days ago
Yep, this is technical legacy in action.
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