Microsoft is certainly exploring operating systems beyond Windows, and SafeOS can be added to the list that already contains Midori and Singularity.
But in all fairness, SafeOS is not designed as a moniker but rather it serves the purpose of describing the concept of a non-Windows safe operating system, whereas Midori and Singularity are codenames for projects already being explored by the software giant.
SafeOS is mentioned in a Microsoft patent application unearthed by
MA-Config, which involves a secure operating system put together by using techniques such as typed assembly language (TAL) and Hoare logic for an Automated, Static Safety Verifier in order to deliver highly automated, static verification of both type and memory safety.
Essentially, the new Microsoft platform concept involves a completely different architecture of the operating system, going beyond address-based memory protection.
“SafeOS, or a similar operating system constructed using the "Automated, Static Safety Verifier", includes a "Nucleus" that provides access to hardware and memory, a "kernel" that builds services on top of the Nucleus, and applications that run on top of the kernel,” reads an excerpt from the patent.
