Barrelfish is based on the multikernel concept that considers each core of modern processors a separate network node. Each core runs a mini operating system that communicates and swaps data with its peers. In this way a small distributed system is created on each computer that looks and feels like a full-fledged operating system. This allows tasks to be better distributed among the processor cores and use the processing more efficiently -- in most current PCs many processor cores lie fallow, depending on the application used. The whole concept is distinctly close to that of cloud computing.

The developer team is a mix of the researchers at the ETH Zurich and members of Microsoft Research Cambridge out of the UK. The joint venture wants to discover "how to structure an OS for future multi- and many-core systems." The project is not just limited to theory. The fairly sparse and unassuming homepage does have its list of publications, theses and reports, but it provide the source code that has been available since mid-September under a BSD license.

The reference implementation known as Barrelfish should primarily give other researchers and developers an insight into the team's methodology and practicality of the concept. Because many of the functions of a typical operating system are (still) missing in Barrelfish, it is not intended for everyday use -- some fundamental appropriate expertise is assumed upon installation.

The project webpage points to a number of supportive documents. In them, developers not only certify that Barrelfish provides better performance than current operating systems like Windows and Linux, but the system is significantly more scalable. The new multikernel operating system affords this by message passing instead of shared memory. Above all, the concept isn't bound to specific hardware and can be applied (more) easily to other architectures and systems.

In the project FAQ, the joint venture emphasizes that Microsoft provides no financial support and stems solely from a previous project shared by the ETH and Microsoft Research.

Apart from Barrelfish, Microsoft is working behind the scenes on other alternative operating systems that might replace or at least flow into the Windows product lines. A well-known example is the Singularity operating system that is totally based on .NET programs and, like Barrelfish, a distributed microkernel platform.