Microsoft Is Working On Subset Of Windows With Footprint In The Order Megabytes Instead Of Gigabytes
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The Windows OS we install on our tablets, PCs and servers takes several gigabytes of space to run. With the increasing adoption of mobile devices by consumers, it is necessary to make Windows run on a mobile device that will have less than 4GB of storage. For that, Microsoft has created a subset of the Windows technology base used to build operating systems that have a smaller footprint than the full Windows Client or Server. These smaller operating systems is in the order megabytes – not gigabytes. A recent job listing revealed that Windows Phone is the first product that was developed using this technology. Also, Microsoft is now pushing their Internet of Things strategy with Windows, this technology could be powering there too.
Our team is working on a subset of the Windows technology base used to build operating systems that have a smaller footprint than the full Windows Client or Server. The derived subsets share core binaries with the regular Windows SKUs (kernel, drivers, networking stacks, graphic and media stacks, a subset of the Windows API surface, etc.). The footprint of these smaller operating systems is in the order megabytes – not gigabytes. Windows Phone 8 was the first released product using this technology.
As we further scale down to lower cost devices and smaller footprint form factors, we need to further improve its CPU, RAM, and disk footprint. Our team is looking for a Principal SDE to participate in this effort. Responsibilities will include:
– identifying the best bang for buck areas to optimize and implement the optimizations
– analyze API usage pattern to determine optimal API to host dll mappings
– use static analysis tools to eliminate code that is unreachable in target scenarios
Working on this project requires the ability to analyze and change large, unfamiliar code bases without breaking them, strong cross-group skills, and the passion to get a lean and mean Windows running everywhere
Source: Microsoft via: @h0x0d
