> they couldn't change the thread scheduler without a new major release?
I'd argue that thread schedulers are a core component of any operating system.
That being said: Windows8 had support for heterogenous processors (aka: ARM's big.LITTLE), so I'm not sure if a fundamental change was really needed here. Microsoft already put a lot of hard work for those Windows8 phones (which used the same kernel as Windows8 desktop).
I'd argue that thread schedulers are a core component of any operating system.
That being said: Windows8 had support for heterogenous processors (aka: ARM's big.LITTLE), so I'm not sure if a fundamental change was really needed here. Microsoft already put a lot of hard work for those Windows8 phones (which used the same kernel as Windows8 desktop).