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> Every new system wants to be a mainframe when it grows up. VMS, Unix, Linux, NT...they all started "small" and gradually added the capabilities and approaches of the Bigger Iron that came before them

MacOS started on desktop, moved from there to smartphones and from there to smartwatches. Linux also moved ‘down’ quite a bit. NT has an embedded variant, too (https://betawiki.net/wiki/Windows_NT_Embedded_4.0, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_editions#Windows_XP..., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_IoT).



True. Every new system wants to be just about everything when it grows up. Run workstations, process transactions, power factors, drive IoT, analyze data, run AI...

"Down" however is historically a harder direction for a design center to move. Easier to add features--even very large, systemic features like SMP, clustering, and channelized I/O--than to excise, condense, remove, and optimize. Linux and iOS have been more successful than most at "run smaller, run lighter, fit into a smaller shell." Then again, they also have very specific targets and billions of dollars of investment in doing so, not just hopeful aspirations and side-gigs.




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