Non-Windows Microsoft OS Midori – "The Windows Killer"- In the perspective of Mark Russinovich
Windows is one product that is not lacking in Nemesis candidates. From Apple's Mac OS X to the open source Linux, to RIA cloud-based operating systems, 
potential Microsoft Windows killers are advertised in a variety of scenarios incongruent with reality. Microsoft's own non-Windows platforms Singularity and Midori are the latest additions to the list of items designed to supersede Windows as the Redmond company's current flagship product becomes antiquated, obsolete and inferior. However, Microsoft Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich indicated that a Windows killer, especially Midori, is nothing but a pipe dream.
An evolution of the Singularity project from Microsoft Research, Midori is a componentized platform written from scratch in managed code, and an incubation project under the leadership of Eric Rudder, senior vice president, Technical Strategy. The leaked information on Midori, combined with the shock of Microsoft reinventing the OS, catalyzed a wave of speculation about the complete exclusion of Windows from the future of the Redmond giant's platforms. Russinovich indeed confirmed that Midori was cooking under Rudder.
"The Midori incubation, [developed] under Eric Rudder, and that's basically taking the concepts of Singularity, which is a totally managed .NET collected OS, and investigating ways to make the [operating system] really scalable across different nodes and asynchronous responsive and they've got this asynchronous programming model they're building on top of that," Russinovich revealed.
However, the Microsoft technical fellow is not as fast when it comes to jumping the gun on the future of Windows. In fact, Russinovich indicated that even with projects like Singularity and Midori, the evolution of Microsoft's operating systems will lead to... Windows.
For more details: Softpedia