GrailOS: A micro-kernel based, multi-server, multi-personality operating system

A multi-server, multi-personality operating system has often been seen as the holy grail of the micro-kernel based systems research agenda. Unfortunately to date there have been limited success in achieving this grand vision, and it is no longer a hot-topic in the operating systems community, despite a recent renaissance of micro-kernels in general. In this paper I argue that new problems exist that motivate the need for such an operating system structure, and that recent advances in technology allow such a project to succeed now, where it had failed in the past. Finally I outline a set of research to be undertaken to attack this problem.