Quite often in relationships there are two seemingly very different people who, for some reason, become a couple. To outside eyes they appear to be completely incompatible with each other. These people marry and have a child. This child is a combination of characteristics of these two people. Sometimes these different characteristics produce a wonder child and sometimes they produce a child we wonder about 
It crossed my mind that if Linux and windows combine in matrimony their resulting combination would produce what? So as a thought experiment I am going to explore what would be the possible outcome. Lets face it, Linux and windows are about as far away and different from each other as the poles on a magnet. Would it be possible to merge these two operating systems together and create the ultimate operating system? How could this be achieved? What would stay, what would go and what would change?
Lets start from the deep and dark recesses of these operating systems and move up to the user interface.
The kernel
Both seem to be very different kernels. Windows is more of a micro kernel with all device drivers and programs out in userland. Linux is a modular kernel where the device drivers are separate modules and effectively become part of the kernel when loaded.
I think that the Linux style kernel is the better model so for our child operating system I would choose that.
The file system
This one is a tricky one as Linux has several different file systems while windows has, effectively, one. I think that the offspring of Linux and windows would be able to use any file system.
Partition management
This one, to me, is a no brainer. The windows method of managing partitions is cumbersome and limited. That definitely has to go. Drive letters should be abolished! It makes programming much easier and the operating system is much more flexible.
System directories
This is a difficult one to decide on. The two operating systems are so different in the way they divide up their system directories. Perhaps it should be like so:-
Boot
Home
User_directories_go_here
System
config_files
os_configs
user_configs
program_files
os_files
user_files
common_data_files
Temp
The point here is there should be a clear distinction between files needed for the operating system, normal programs and user files.
User Interface
Naturally I find the ability to customise the user interface to my desires of prime importance. The amalgamation of Linux and windows should, I think, be able to use many different window managers. The different window managers should however, have common contact points (API's) to enable programs to be easily written.
Program and Operating System Updates
These should simply be available from one single area. No matter what program you have installed, from which ever source, all updates are accessed from a single location. You should not need to have to worry about updating dozens of programs from as many update areas. The operating system files should be updated as soon as a fix is available for preventing zero day attacks.
Security permissions
Both the latest windows and Linux have pretty good security when it comes to user permissions. That shouldn't change too much. Programs should however, never, ever be allowed to change system files. There must be clear separation between system and end user files. This should help reduce virus epidemics 
. Different users should also have no access between each other either
This is a quick exploration into what I think a mind meld between windows and Linux would/should be like. What do you think? What would your ideas be on a fusion of two different operating system implementations? Is it even possible? Would it be allowed if it were?
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They already did.They named
They already did.
They named their first born child KDE 4.0
mind meld between windows and Linux
Your projected offspring appears to be composed of mostly Linux DNA. Are there no windows contributions of value?
I wrote what I thought was
I wrote what I thought was sensible and made sense. Do you have any idea's? What do you think windows could offer?
WIndows Could Offer....
Like the poster below said...
WIN32 API -- Basically, like GTK or QT, but just another form coming in. So therefore it wouldn't be any different than say, running a KDE app while running Gnome, or vice versa.
DirectX, device drivers of Windows merging, too.
I would think the ideal solution would be Linux extending to take in Windows... with a Windows API & Desktop Environment option (like KDE, Gnome, Enlightenment, etc), and a layer translating Windows drivers and DirectX into it.
I've heard complaints about X-Windows and how it's built, and maybe that structurally taking on things more like Windows maybe?
In a previous article I
In a previous article I expressed my ideas on "A new way of looking at user interface design" which would fit in with this quite well I think. In that article I tried to say that no matter what program is used the way it interacts with the window manager is the same, using the same function calls to the window managers API. This would allow, say, directX to work with gdi32 (the windows window manager IIRC), kwin, metacity, etc.
interesting idea
would be an interesting outcome, would the merge bring win32 api together with qt/gtk+ bringing native support for direct 3d and other windows exclusive libraries? would it cost me 300 bucks?, it would also give them the advantage of making the os much much more flashy and cooler looking using compiz and other apps to compete against mac.
What ms really needs to do is drop the registry system. I hate installing stuff because i know when i uinstall that app, it leaves my registry full of that apps crap because the developer was not smart enough or to lazy to make the uninstaller remove it. I really like the linux user space and how config files are set up.