> I didn't know at the time that the Windows kernel was paged.
At uni I had a professor in database systems, who did not like written exams, but mostly did oral exams. Obviously for DBMSes the page buffer is very relevant, so we chatted about virtual memory and paging. So in my explanation I made the difference for kernel space and user space. I am pretty sure I had read that in a book describing VAX/VMS internals. However, the professor claimed that a kernel never does paging for its own memory. I did not argue on that and passed the exam with the best grade. Did not check that book again to verify my claim. I have never done any kernel space development even vaguely close to memory management, so still today I don't know the exact details.
However, what strikes me here: When that exam happened in 1985ish the NT kernel did not exist yet, I'd believe. However, IIRC a significant part of the DEC VMS kernel team went to Microsoft to work on the NT kernel. So the concept of paging (a part of) kernel memory went with them? Whether VMS --> WNT, every letter increased by one is just a coincidence or intentionally the next baby of those developers I have never understood. As Linux has shown us today much bigger systems can be successfully handled without the extra complications for paging kernel memory. Whether it's a good idea I don't know, at least not a necessary one.
The VMS --> WNT acronym relationship was not mentioned, maybe it was just made up later.
One thing I did not know (or maybe not remember) is that NT was originally developed exclusively for the Intel i860, one of Intel's attempts to do RISC. Of course in the late 1980s CISC seemed deemed and everyone was moving to RISC. The code name of the i860 was N10. So that might well be the inside origin of NT, the marketing name New Technology retrofitted only later.
"New Technology", if you want to search the transcript. Per Dave, marketing did not want to use "NT" for "New Technology" because they thought no one would buy new technology.
Actually it was not only x86 hardware that was not really planned for the NT kernel, also Windows user space was not the first candidate. Posix and maybe even OS/2 were earlier goals.
So the current x86 Windows monoculture came up as an accident because strategically planned new options did not materialize. The user space change should finally debunk the theory that VMS andvances into WNT was a secret plot by the engineers involved. It was probably a coincidence discovered after the fact.
At uni I had a professor in database systems, who did not like written exams, but mostly did oral exams. Obviously for DBMSes the page buffer is very relevant, so we chatted about virtual memory and paging. So in my explanation I made the difference for kernel space and user space. I am pretty sure I had read that in a book describing VAX/VMS internals. However, the professor claimed that a kernel never does paging for its own memory. I did not argue on that and passed the exam with the best grade. Did not check that book again to verify my claim. I have never done any kernel space development even vaguely close to memory management, so still today I don't know the exact details.
However, what strikes me here: When that exam happened in 1985ish the NT kernel did not exist yet, I'd believe. However, IIRC a significant part of the DEC VMS kernel team went to Microsoft to work on the NT kernel. So the concept of paging (a part of) kernel memory went with them? Whether VMS --> WNT, every letter increased by one is just a coincidence or intentionally the next baby of those developers I have never understood. As Linux has shown us today much bigger systems can be successfully handled without the extra complications for paging kernel memory. Whether it's a good idea I don't know, at least not a necessary one.