Dave Probert: Compare and Contrast

By Alexander Schmidt

I had the chance to meet Dave Probert at Microsoft Academic Days 2007 in Castle Birlinghoven, near Bonn, Germany. Besides Arkady Retik, who oversees the Microsoft Windows Academic Program, Dave was responsible for the preparation of the source files that comprise the Windows Research Kernel.

In a talk, Dave told me the main reason why Microsoft released the WRK: Compare and Contrast. That is, students must be provided with the possibility to compare different solutions to common OS problems, like scheduling or memory management. In his oppinion, the majority of students are tought with UNIX or Linux at academic OS courses. So they are not able to see the other side of the coin.

So let's see, whether the WRK might accomplish its objective.

Comments