I had the thrill of a lifetime, hosting dinner for Bill Gates, Linus Torvalds and David Cutler. Linus had never met Bill, and Dave had never met Linus. No major kernel decisions were made, but maybe next dinner 😉
One of the replies to the LinkedIn post:
Dave Cutler (Windows NT) and Linus Torvalds (Linux kernel creator) wouldn’t meet casually; they’re almost certainly plotting a next-gen AI-native operating system (AI OS). With Azure CTO Mark Russinovich in the mix, the effort looks Microsoft-centered and cloud-first.
Key ideas: “Processes” become agents; Command line / GUI replaced by a natural-language interface; Hybrid Windows + Linux kernel layers, orchestrated on Azure for large-scale LLM and agent workloads
Bottom line: expect a Microsoft-led, AI-centric OS that re-imagines traditional operating-system architecture for the LLM era.
Talk about talking out of your ass.
Talking out of your AIss*
Or just great satire, what's even the difference between that and reality these days?
I find comfort in satire because it's way less absurd.
Thoughts and sprayers to satire!
https://media1.tenor.com/m/s2Oaghr3-ScAAAAC/michael-scott-the-office.gif
That HAS to be sarcasm .... right?
Yes, it's obvious sarcasm. But reading comprehension has seriously gone to shit in the last decade or so.
Just in case that putting processes in quotation marks (but not agents) wasn't enough to convince you how deeply unserious this person is, they threw "azure-hosted kernel layers" in there.
Yes, this is bullshit.
While some sort of a redesign of part of Linux's internals I could imagine.
In terms of kernel ABI stability Linux is often criticized even in comparison to BSDs.
And in general its insides are more messy and "naturally grown", or so I've heard (OpenBSD is the only OS whose internals I've made myself familiar with sufficiently ; also put some effort for FreeBSD).
So my, eh, alternative opinion would be that something is brewing for Linux like what Digital Unix was for BSD Unix. A hybrid cleaned up kernel, maybe support for different ABIs (like what exists in FreeBSD for Linux and older versions of itself, except maybe more ambitious). Maybe even tackling a more open alternative to NT (itself alternative to VMS and David Cutler being the man who did that) while they're at it. NT is not a bad thing. Even Windows is not a bad thing. Maybe Wine isn't enough, or maybe it would be cool to have something possible to make compatible with many Windows device drivers.
At least I hope it's Linux learning to do EEE and not the other way around.
Though with Bill Gates and Dave Cutler this really seems like a meeting of legends and nothing more. They're cool people, but I don't think they want to play global thermonuclear computing war at that age, unlike just global thermonuclear war IRL, this one is more attractive for younger people. Even if it's about some project being born, I'd expect that to be "just for fun" for everyone involved, they deserve that after all.
Add long as it has nothing to do with Linux, I don't care
Someone's 3d printer making spaghetti in the background.
Bill been eating well
Tiny head though
That is wild they've never met.
I imagine Linus never seeing a point to such a meeting.
Same. At this point I think he probably did it more to indulge those who wanted that to happen than actually wanting or caring about it.
I'd have expected then meeting by chance at a conference at some point
That backdrop makes everyone look even grayer than they are
Haha I read that as gayer.
The awful lighting on this photo makes Linus look older than Bill!
Except for the guy on the left, who is clearly wearing a wig.
Not just a wig, a cheapo Aliexpress wig. I had an employee who bought a quality hairpiece, and it was uncanny. He paid through the nose for it, but it was worth it for him, as he was quite bald in his 20's.
I didn't even recognize them until I read the title.
I like to imagine they were just side-eyeing each other the whole time.
And every movement arises suspicion. One of them jumped when the other reached for his phone in his pocket
Linus looking healthier than ever, dog. Good for him. Live your best life, baby.
Lean, mean, diving machine.
Oh yeah, that's one of his interests, isn't it? He wrote some kind of software for that, if I remember correctly.
Holy shit the comments on that have got to be the sloppiest slop I have ever seen.
Dave Cutler, the legend of VMS and the NT kernel.
This happened on 21 June 2025
...that's two days ago?
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
