A recent LinkedIn post by a senior Microsoft engineer sparked widespread speculation about the tech giant's plans to overhaul its core software. However, Microsoft has now stepped in to clarify that it is not rewriting its Windows operating system in the Rust programming language.
How a Job Post Led to a Major Misunderstanding
The confusion began when Galen Hunt, a Microsoft Distinguished Engineer, shared a job opening for a Principal Software Engineer on his LinkedIn profile. The post, which went viral, stated a bold goal: "My goal is to eliminate every line of C and C++ from Microsoft by 2030." It described a strategy using AI and algorithms for large-scale code refactoring, with a "North Star" of "1 engineer, 1 month, 1 million lines of code."
The role was specifically aimed at helping evolve an infrastructure to translate Microsoft's largest C and C++ systems to Rust. This led many in the tech community to conclude that a massive, company-wide migration from C/C++ to Rust was imminent, potentially including the Windows codebase.
The Official Clarification from Microsoft
Following the online uproar and extensive speculation, Hunt issued a formal update titled 'Update' to set the record straight. He clarified that his post had generated far more attention than intended and that people were reading too much between the lines.
"Just to clarify... Windows is *NOT* being rewritten in Rust with AI," Hunt stated unequivocally. He explained that his team's project is a research initiative within the Future of Scalable Software Engineering group in Microsoft's CoreAI organization. Their mission is to build capabilities to eliminate technical debt at scale, and they are developing technology to make migration between programming languages possible.
The intent of the original post, according to the clarification, was simply to find like-minded engineers for this multi-year research endeavor—not to announce a new strategy for Windows or to declare Rust as an ultimate endpoint for all Microsoft code.
The Broader Industry Push for Memory-Safe Languages
While the Windows rewrite rumor is false, the underlying context reveals a significant industry trend. There is growing pressure to move away from older languages like C and C++ in favor of memory-safe languages such as Rust, C#, and Go.
Research by both Google and Microsoft indicates that approximately 70 percent of all software security vulnerabilities are caused by memory safety issues inherent in languages like C and C++. This security imperative is driving change from the top down.
In a significant move, America's National Security Agency (NSA), along with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and international partners, released a cybersecurity information sheet in November 2023 titled "The Case for Memory Safe Roadmaps." This document guides software manufacturers to create plans for transitioning to memory-safe programming languages to reduce the attack surface of their products.
The report explicitly recommends languages like C#, Go, Java, Python, Rust, and Swift, urging companies to evaluate and integrate them into their workflows to mitigate memory-related vulnerabilities.
Therefore, while Microsoft is not embarking on an immediate, AI-driven rewrite of Windows, the company—along with the broader tech industry—is actively researching and investing in tools and languages that promise a more secure and sustainable software future. The viral episode highlights the intense interest and high stakes surrounding the evolution of foundational software engineering practices.
