The researchers point out that the foundations of today's computing platform were laid in the 1960s and '70s when "computers were extremely limited in speed and memory capacity; used only by a small group of technically literate and non-malicious users; and were rarely networked or connected to physical devices."
Microsoft describes Singularity as "a research project focused on the construction of dependable systems through innovation in the areas of systems, languages, and tools," according to the project
website. It exploits advances in programming languages and tools to create an environment in which software is more likely to be built correctly, program behavior is easier to verify, and run-time failures can be contained. The microkernel is written in a variant of C#
managed code.
Microsoft's MSDN
Channel 9 website has an interview with Sigularity's lead researchers, Jim Larus and Galen Hunt. The 53 minute video is available for viewing,
here.
Although Singularity remains a research project, Microsoft embedded product manager Mike Hall points out that a managed code operating system is actually already shipping --
SPOT (Smart Personal Objects Technology), the software platform used in
MSN Direct watches.
Further information about Singularity is available in an
interesting article at
Microsoft-Watch by Mary Jo Foley.
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