14 DAY TRIAL // Verve is a new operating system project from Microsoft that can be added to the list already containing platforms such as Singularity and Midori. In fact, Verve is intimately connected to Singularity, but exploring the concept of a Type-Safe Operating System, and in this context it’s also close to Midori which is itself tied to Singularity.
And as is the case for both Singularity and Midori, Verve is nothing more than a prototype designed for research purposes.
Microsoft research is even providing the source code for Verve in order to get more people testing the Type-Safe OS.
Verve is “an operating system and run-time system that we have verified to ensure type and memory safety. Verve has a simple mantra: every assembly language instruction in the software stack must be mechanically verified for safety,” reads an excerpt from the whitepaper released for this project.
“This includes every instruction of every piece of software except the boot loader: applications, device drivers, thread scheduler, interrupt handler, allocator, garbage collector, etc.
“The goal of formally verifying low-level OS and run-time system code is not new. Nevertheless, very little mechanically verified low-level OS and run-time system code exists, and that code still requires man-years of effort to verify.”
Users can watch a video of Microsoft research scientist and operating system expert Chris Hawblitzel discussing Verve, in order to get an idea of just what the project is about.
They can also grab the source code from CodePlex and start playing around with yet another non-Windows operating system from Microsoft.
Of course, users need to keep in mind the fact that Verve is nothing more than a Microsoft Research prototype, and that there are absolutely no plans to turn Verve into a commercial product.
However, the work done for Singularity, Verve and Midori could always end up being implemented into actual products from Microsoft in the future, provided that the prototypes don’t get shelved.
“The Singularity Project is more than a single thing (…) there would be no Verve project without the Singularity research findings.
“In some sense, Verve is a natural, though with different specific focus (e.g., fully verifiable operating system, typed AL, managed HAL (Nucleus), etc), evolution of the Singularity project. The important point is that OS research is alive and very well both inside and outside of MS. Verve, like Singularity, is about exploring fundamentals and rethinking the OS stack.
“Also, as is the case with Singlularity the OS, there is no product trajectory for Verve. It's basic science, not product development...” explained a member of the Channel9 team at Microsoft.