Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!yale!cmcl2!rutgers!ucla-cs!zen!ucbvax!CORY.BERKELEY.EDU!dillon
From: dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: The REAL problem is the nature of personal computers.
Message-ID: <8801130137.AA26480@cory.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 13 Jan 88 01:37:22 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Lines: 15

>> Add to that,
>> the overhead and "non realtime" response of such an OS.
>
>The overhead of a message passing operating system is far higher than the
>overhead of a monolithic lump like UNIX. I must admit it's a lot prettier,
>though.

	This is a common misconception due to the fact that UNIX context
switches take a long time.  In fact, message passing operating systems, which
almost always utilize a buffer sharing scheme as well, can be more efficient
for the same reasons a multitasking computer is more efficient than a single
tasking one.  And of course there is always the increased modularity you
mentioned.

					-Matt