Re: [dionv@spots.ab.ca: Should I continue to study linux-based GNU?]

[John Tobey <jtobey@john-edwin-tobey.org>]

> > b) Is there some compelling purpose that Hurd can serve that Linux
> > inherently *cannot?*
> 
> I do not think so. It is just the cleaner design, but that is only of
> interest to those who want to hack it.

It is enough for a feature to be so much easier to do on Hurd that no
one will bother getting it into Linux.

I imagine an Internet hosting service could offer the equivalent of a
dedicated server as a sub-Hurd, so the customer can do the things that
only root can do on Unix, but several customers could safely share a
machine.  Can VMWare do that already?  (i.e. completely protect the
hardware and other VMs from each other)

Also, I think the possible uses for filesystem translators are
inexhaustible.  I'm hoping to write the glue that will allow writing
ad hoc translators in Perl with minimal effort.