I still remember the disappointment I felt when, as a kid, tried Linux for the first time ever thanks to a magazine-attached live CD.

After years of hearing about this "alternative" OS, I was horrified to discover a UI that's very close to that of Windows. It felt boring and not as thrilling as I expected.

Today, I still appreciate the courage of those who go off the beaten roads of OS Land; even those that aren't as fun as templeOS.

I feel that back in the 80s QNX had already accomplished what Hurd had set out to do (https://blackberry.qnx.com/en/products/qnx-everywhere). Blackberry bought QNX decades after its creation but the core architecture - microkernel-based, modular, and real-time - was already mature and production-ready long before Hurd left the lab. Moreover, I've never known another OS to implement synchronous thread message passing the way QNX does.

The HURD has been around for a while, and its architecture is archaic. It was designed in a world where Mach is the microkernel, and thus microkernels are slow.

There's many more options[0] these days. I'd like to highlight Genode[1], its general purpose distribution Sculpt[2][3], and its community, Genodians[4].

Genode has a much more advanced design and supports a range of modern microkernels including the formally verified seL4[5], which is also the fastest kernel out there.

0. https://www.microkernel.info/

1. https://genode.org/

2. https://genode.org/download/sculpt

3. https://genodians.org/nfeske/2025-01-30-sculpt-os-walkthroug...

4. https://genodians.org/

5. https://sel4.systems/