Microsoft's Core OS Division: A Status Report
|
Back in December 2003, Microsoft shuffled its Windows platforms group and created the unified Core Operating Systems Division (COSD). COSD's charter: To ensure Windows "engineering excellence." What's happened since then? Slowly but surely, COSD has been finding its way, according to one of the key movers and shakers on the COSD team, Rob Short, corporate VP of Windows Core Technology.
Short, a long-time Windows veteran, works under Brian Valentine, the head of COSD (who, in turn, works for the group vice president of platforms, Jim Allchin).
"A few years ago, it was clear we needed to change things. From an engineering point of view, we realized we needed to better understand things like the process and the architecture," Short told Microsoft Watch.
"The security disaster really shook people up here. Never in our wildest dreams had we thought about the kinds of malicious attacks that could result," he said. And, at the same time, "we wanted to be able to do more predictable (Windows) scheduling. "Some companies would just allow their staff people to undertake these kinds of challenges as just one more piece of their regular jobs. But not here," Short said.
Allchin ended up hand-picking a team of people -- almost all of whom were Windows client and/or server veterans with impressive and lengthy pedigrees -- to focus on what are considered the core components of Windows. Specifically: the kernel, I/O (input/output) system; core devices; setup; and all the build properties. Short said he was not permitted to divulge how many people are part of COSD. But he did detail COSD's structure. The main COSD groups include:
The COSD team works hand-in-hand with the other Windows product teams, Short explained, each of which has its own set of architecture folks. At the same time, there is also what Short called the "virtual architecture team" -- 30 people across Windows who "have a broader view."
Next Page: What Are COSD's Top Priorities?
"We've been doing componentization for years, but we never really brought it across all the Windows teams" until COSD was created, Short said. Now, we're working on layering and dependencies. We are focused on code flow. We can analyze all the dependencies in the system." One way that Microsoft is delving into these dependencies is by using a layering tool developed by Microsoft researchers, he said. It is coupling the results from this tool with more frequent reviews of all parts of the system, allowing early flagging of potential problem areas and conflicts. Another COSD priority is improving the Windows build process, Short said. "We changed our source-control process at the end of Windows 2000," Short said. "At that time, it became a much more distributed process." COSD is focused on improving quality. The unit has developed a new set of metrics, called quality gates, which are various hurdles along the development path that Windows builds must pass in order to proceed to the next level, Short said. The Microsoft researchers who joined the Windows team are helping develop these metrics, Short said. An example of a quality gate could be a security threat model. Each Windows subsystem must be able to meet certain security-threat levels before its developers are allowed to take their code and submit it into the main Windows code branch. "We met with a lot of resistance from some engineers on this initially," Short acknowledged. "But (these metrics) have really helped." In addition to getting its Windows development house in order, COSD also has taught Microsoft some interesting management lessons, according to Short. When group VP Jim Allchin originally envisioned COSD, he wanted to staff it with the best and brightest Windows veterans. But there was one problem. Many of these guys were burned out, overworked and none too interested in adding yet more responsibilities to their already busy day jobs, Short said. The solution? Allow the COSD team to make improving Windows quality their exclusive priority. "We wanted to have not a lot of bureaucracy…to help attract people to work here (at COSD)," Short said. "The real trick was in separating the work. We needed to be able to separate our parts" to keep bureaucracy to a minimum," Short continued. In his case, Short is focused 100 percent on improving the Windows architecture – which means, in brief, the way the system components layer. Specifically, the architecture's team current priority is to improve multimedia and make it perform in a glitch-free way. "We put one top guy on that and have been working on it from end-to-end," Short said. Surprisingly, Short said the architecture team has met with little resistance in rolling out this multimedia work to others in the Windows division. "It's an example to others how you can really work across all the groups," Short said. We simplified the problem and really understood it end to end. Now it's one of the key focus areas for Longhorn." Speaking of Longhorn, COSD's work won't be finished once Longhorn ships. "We're looking at this as a long-term thing – way beyond Longhorn," said Short. The unit is looking at longer range development challenges, Short said, including improving backwards compatibility; increasing system performance and reliability; and developing better tools for analyzing crashes.
|
