Nicholas Wilt

@JosephSomsel @GaryHaubold OP said Windows NT was an “update” from Win95 et al, when NT3.1 first shipped in 1992 and spent almost a decade being sold separately before the NT kernel served as the unified code base for Windows XP (c. 2001).

@GaryHaubold @CUDAHandbook From the end-user perspective, it was a new version and looked like an update. I'll let you guys debate what the meaning of "update" is.

I worked in Microsoft’s Systems Division in the mid to late 1990s, when Windows NT was winning market share from the clown car of UNIX variants offered by various workstation and server vendors. Linux was in ascendancy, but not soon enough to forestall the migration of 1/x

@adymitruk @PTrubey Apple and NVIDIA would like a word

@PTrubey @CUDAHandbook The answer is easy. It's not open source. Freedom always wins in the end.

Editorial note: the first NT that shipped was versioned Windows 3.1

@TSoS_ I think they will reconcile because their love for each other is too strong; and I expect the arc of the story will closely follow that of the book. I was a huge Zendaya fan before these movies, but her performance in Dune 2 made it clear they entrusted the right actor.

The storyline I am most anxious about in Dune: Part Three is definitely Chani's. Villeneuve managed to turn one of the blandest and least developed characters of Frank Herbert's two novels into a headstrong, fierce fighter against the corruption of her people. Her conflict with Paul is one of the most interesting aspects of the trilogy and the cliffhanger ending of Part Two, which leaves even book fans wondering where her arc will go next, was fantastic. Still, I believe the ending of Dune: Messiah is so utterly heartbreaking that the movie should not deviate from it and I really wonder how they will get there. Is Paul telling Jessica "She'll come to understand. I've seen it" a reliable account or is there a more layered meaning to it? All the happier scenes in Part Three certainly look like flashbacks to a time before the crusade. And who is Chani preparing to fight? Is Paul sending Fedaykin to the desert to find her and bring her back to his palace in the first act? Will she reluctantly take her place as his concubine? From the trailer premiere event, we know she has scenes with Irulan, which has led some people to theorise that she could be part of the conspiracy against Muad'dib and while that would be a truly shocking twist, I also believe it would be detrimental to Messiah's story. If the twins are born already - something others have theorised - that would also be a drastic change, making it impossible for her to die in childbirth at the end. Right now, I simply have no idea how they are going to continue her story. What are your theories? I would love to hear some thoughts because this is the one thing I just can't figure out.

@GaryHaubold @JosephSomsel I’m not sure what you mean by “update.” The Win9x and NT code bases were shockingly discontiguous. Microsoft built huge sections of Windows twice. It was a pretty incredible feat of engineering, really, considering the compatibility burden they were servicing.

@JosephSomsel @CUDAHandbook Well, NT was an update from Windows 98/Me, so it was the first real professional quality OS for personal computers.

and again, afaik Microsoft has never attempted to assert their IP rights. In a post Google v Oracle world, they may rightfully be afraid of a Streisand Effect and adverse court ruling that would undermine rather than strengthen their competitive position.

Linux is also Getting Good at games because the DirectX APIs stagnated for long enough for emulation/translation technologies like DXVK to support a meaningful share of the catalog. tomshardware.com/video-games/pc…

@WilmsRolf Yes. Its compatibility story was a little spotty for a while, (I don’t think its DOS box could run DOOM, not in a million years), but they wound up striking a good balance.

@CUDAHandbook Windows NT was rock solid and ran Windows apps much better than OS/2 did, so everyone who needed an affordable OS with memory protection for their PC switched.

@silkysxn I love that he wouldn’t even let them tackle him in the end zone.

Charb boutta be unstoppable next year man. I really think he got it

@anonmig6 @willigula @AndrewButchart1 I wasn’t in that room, but I’d be shocked if Intel did not use their (perceived) leverage on Microsoft to have it killed. It was a precursor to TransMeta’s strategy and would have been good for Digital and the industry.

@CUDAHandbook @willigula @AndrewButchart1 Played with fx!32 a couple of years back on some old alpha hardware. Amazing stuff when you consider the timeframe it was made

@hyenaskyy @GaryHaubold Yes. We are partly the people we used to be. I personally have cited some design aspects of CUDA that harken to DirectX. For example, I am the person who decided CUDA developers should be able to allocate pinned memory.

@CUDAHandbook @GaryHaubold I feel like there *are* some specific readily identifiable VMS-isms in NT that were clearly carried through Cutler's involvement, like the 32 priority levels where the upper 16 are "real time", the concept of IPLs directly borrowed as IRQLs, fundamentally asynchronous IO, etc

@hyenaskyy Sorry for blowing you up, there was another earlier tweet that intimated IP theft.. it hits close to home because I personally have cited my work on DirectX as an inference on my work on CUDA.

@CUDAHandbook I was just trying to add cool information, not make IP theft accusations... I think it's cool and natural and unavoidable that there was inspiration

This claim of IP theft by Microsoft has come up a few times in this thread. What the hell theory of harm does anyone think Digital could assert, here? Patent violations? There isn’t a hint of a sign that NT was anything but a clean room design. In fact the VMS kernel 1/x

@DonaldPMitchell Sure. Just like Titanic is Aliens+1. (It isn’t)

@CUDAHandbook We all know WNT = VMS + 1;

Oh that wasn’t 5/x that was /fin

systems for a different company. I am a Seahawks fan and their Super Bowl MVP just signed with another team. No one is going to try to claim Seahawks glory for Kenneth Walker’s work for the Chiefs. 5/x

@JohnAndrea999 When I was working on Win9x and WinNT, I had to reboot them every day because we were building software and it was a work in progress. The whole NT org was paralyzed for 6 weeks after Plug & Play was introduced to the kernel.

@CUDAHandbook I had an X-terminal and NT3.51 on my desk while everyone else on the floor was rebooting every day to keep Win95 running.