News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

June 19, 2006

software

Corny conspiracy theories surround Apple’s kernel

Posted Jun. 19, ’06, 12:21 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Software

Popcorn kernelsYou probably don’t think much about OS X’s Mach microkernel. It’s not something that lends itself to casual thinking. In fact, it’s so hard to find a good picture representing it that I’m forced to use this picture of popcorn kernels.

But recent goings on have my interest piqued. You may recall Derik posting on Tom Yager’s criticism that Apple had not yet opened the source of its x86 kernel, and the resulting meeting between Yager and Apple. It seems between the “closed source” issue and the departure of Mach developer Avie Tevanian earlier this year, some conspiracy theorists have taken to proclaiming that the end of the Mach kernel is nigh.

Ars Technica’s John Siracusa tackles these rumors head on in a pair of informative blog posts at Fat Bits. In the first post, Siracusa suggests that the amount of noise about the kernel means that certainly something is going on, though specifics are vauge at the moment.

That’s my optimistic theory, anyway. “Cool kernel changes coming, just wait!” But I also have a darker theory. It’s also possible that Apple is considering a major change in its Mac platform strategy and does not want to drop the bomb until WWDC. This could also be something good, but my intuition tells me that any major Mac strategy change at this point is just as likely to be bad. Not “Mac OS X cancelled, Apple moving to Windows” bad, more along the lines of “Apple switching to x86” bad. That is, short-term upheaval and pain for the promise of long-term gain.
His followup piece addresses a couple of questions (including a good argument as to why the x86 source has remained closed), as well as speculation about what could replace Mach in OS X.


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