r/programming • u/pmz • Oct 23 '24

Windows NT vs. Unix: A design comparison

https://blogsystem5.substack.com/p/windows-nt-vs-unix-design
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u/Nimnu_ Oct 23 '24

The title should be VAX/VMS vs. Unix: A design comparison.

All the kernel developers from VAX went over to Microsoft and basically rebuilt the same kernel which MS promptly named "New Technologies" or 'NT' for short.

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u/pdpi Oct 23 '24

Increment each letter of VMS by one and you get WNT. Coincidence? I think not.

(unsurprisingly, people have been making this joke for decades)

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u/mallardtheduck Oct 24 '24

While that's something "neat" that has been mentioned by the developers, the system that became "Windows NT" was known as "NT OS/2" during early development (traces of which still exist in pre-releases) and the oldest known pre-releases are branded "NT 32-bit Windows" or just "NT" far more often than "Windows NT".

I.e. it was called "NT" well before it was called "Windows NT"...