Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2000 10:03:59 -0800 (PST) From: Dean Brundage <brundage@ha1mil.Ebay.Sun.COM> To: keown@thegrid.net, dmoreno@polymail.cpunix.calpoly.edu, dkrout@thegrid.net, jstaker@thegrid.net, delfosse@delfosse.com, dv8@thegrid.net, samizdat@thegrid.net, todd@thegrid.net, pez@thegrid.net, wyvern@thegrid.net Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: a new microsoft innovation, the symlink Message-ID: <200003021803.KAA24974@ha1mil.EBay.Sun.COM>
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I got this forwarded to me today. The whole article is good for a laugh. -Dean Unscrambler of eggs. IT Ops aka ITPS aka SunIT aka SunIR aka ENS aka Desktop Support -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There isn't a mome rath that could outgrabe me! -- Nicol Williamson ------------- Begin Forwarded Message ------------- Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2000 08:59:26 -0800 (PST) From: Deniz Yasar Subject: a new microsoft innovation, the symlink Microsoft Research Innovations Enhance Windows 2000 REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 28, 2000 -- Three years ago, Bill Bolosky and two Microsoft colleagues were brainstorming technology advances when an idea occurred to them -- why not save operating system disk space by storing duplicate files as links that point to a single file housed in a central location? Not only would this save storage space, they reasoned; it would also result in substantial performance improvements. Moreover, it would make it faster for information technology (IT) managers to install computers for new employees since they?d no longer be required to copy massive amounts of data each time they set up a new desktop. The three sent a memo to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates outlining the idea. Both Gates and the Windows 2000 product team liked the proposal, and the Windows team asked Bolosky if he could develop the feature himself. During the next 1-1/2 years, Bolosky, a researcher in Microsoft Research?s Systems and Networking Group, and three of his researchers worked full time with the Windows 2000 team to build the technology, now known as the Single Instance Store. "The Single Instance Store recognizes that there?s duplication, coalesces the extra copies and stores the bits once instead of several times," Bolosky said. "So if you have 10 files with the same exact bits, instead of storing this data 10 times, it stores it once. It frees up a lot of space, and you realize performance improvements on the server." A key administrative improvement in Windows 2000, the Single Instance Store is among the many innovations built from the ground up by Microsoft?s research arm "Microsoft Research." Innovations developed by Microsoft researchers consistently find their way into company products. The most recent example of this is the number of innovations that were incorporated into Windows 2000, Microsoft?s flagship operating system, which launched worldwide on Feb. 17. [... More info on this wildly radical and unheard of software concept at: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2000/02-28w2k.asp Does anybody know the alias for the Solaris product team? We need to integrate this innovative feature into our product. Please forward this mail to anyone you know at Sun. I don't mean to start a commotion, but I do believe our livleyhoods are at stake here. ] -Deniz ------------- End Forwarded Message ------------- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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