Andy Microbaum

Andy abhors monolithic kernels like Linux, Windows or BSD. He rather writes a carefully designed little kernel that does some basic stuff and leaves the rest for user space.

Pro's & Con's

Pro:

• easier to maintain

Con:

• more overhead
• harder to program

Going further than Andy Microbaum

Consider other kernel designs: Layered, modular or even smaller (nanokernel, exokernel)

Andy Microbaum's bookshelf

Research papers on microkernels

Andy Microbaum's opponents position

Monolithic kernel (= all in one big kernel)

See also the famous Tanenbaum–Torvalds debate

People and OSes related to Andy Microbaum

• Amoeba (a distributed OS)
• Mach (the fundament of Hurd)
• PeterX I'm strongly against a monolithic kernel, so I fall more or less under the microkernel category
• Nexos I've always had a draw to microkernel, since Linux and Windows are insecure