Video: Andrew Tanenbaum on Bugs and Minix' Reincarnation Server
Linux Pro Magazine met the author of numerous standard works in informatics and the most famous Linux critic at the Fosdem in Brussels.
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Andrew Tanenbaum teaches at the Free University of Amsterdam and presented his own operating system, Minix 3, at the developer conference (Feb 7-8, 2010).
In the video he talks about his current research into stable operating systems, of the differences and similarities between Minix and Linux and his approach to the community.
Andrew Tanenbaum at FOSDEM
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stability
Linux is a classic example of modern software. There are no standardised api's (which many people actually think is an advantage - what are they smoking?), one reason why no applications can ever be written that will run on anything but the current version of the OS. Forget earlier or later versions. New OS - new applications.
Of course with Linux the applications are actually part of the operating system in that they are bundled with it, as a 'distro' - the Linux developers have succeeded in making the whole mess into one continually moving target. If you are someone that values stability and reliability - forget computers, for now at least. Maybe in twenty or thirty years OS's will have settled down. Who knows? Would'nt that be nice.
Minix 3
Reliability
So just saying "we'll have a reliable OS" is too little too late. As an example look at Solaris, Sun developed the DTrace and ZFS but the market share of Solaris is still diminishing. So there's so much more for an OS to convince the industry to move to it than just becoming a more reliable Unix.
Bottom line: the biggest problem with this future OS is the (narrow) worldview of its leader (I mean Tanenbaum of course).
Reincarnation Server
The path leading up to the module being "hung" or failing might have set the state of the total system to a point where it has provided to the user (or to the rest of the system) an incorrect or incomplete answer. Just "killing" the module and re-starting it would not correct the over-all problem or over-all state of the system or the guarantee the right answer to the end user.
"Automobiles never have these problems"
As to to his analogies about automobiles, yes people do replace carburettors and other parts to get more efficiency (the "hackers" of the car world), and for reliability....perhaps he has never heard of Toyota.