The next Windows kernel is called MinWin and it was designed to use very little RAM and hard drive space.

When comparing Windows Vista and MinWin, Vista has 50 times more system files 160 times more hard drive space that it is taking on a PC. However, it will be three more years before the next Windows version will be released so those figures may be closer in the future.

“It’s still bigger than I’d like it to be, but we’ve taken a shot at really stripping out all of the layers above and making sure that we had a clean architectural layer there,” said Eric Traut who is one of the head Operating System designers at Microsoft.

Source: Tech.blorge.com