A distinguished engineer at Microsoft has taken a step back from earlier statements regarding the company’s intentions for its codebase, specifically addressing the notion that all C and C++ code will be phased out by 2030. Galen Hunt, whose initial LinkedIn post ignited considerable speculation, has clarified that the initiative he mentioned is purely research-focused and not a definitive plan for Windows.
Hunt remarked that his original message “generated far more attention than I intended.” He emphasized that the idea of rewriting Windows in Rust with the assistance of AI was a misinterpretation of his announcement.
Research project, not Windows roadmap: Clarifies Microsoft engineer
The project in question aims to develop technology that facilitates large-scale code migration between programming languages, with an ambitious goal of enabling “1 engineer, 1 month, 1 million lines of code.” This initiative combines AI agents with algorithmic infrastructure to process and modify code on a massive scale. However, Hunt was quick to point out that this remains an experimental endeavor within Microsoft’s Future of Scalable Software Engineering group, rather than an official strategy for Windows 11 or any future iterations.
This clarification comes in light of reports from tech media outlets that interpreted Hunt’s initial post as a definitive plan to replace Microsoft’s entire C and C++ codebase with Rust by the end of the decade. To further this research, Hunt’s team is actively seeking a Principal Software Engineer with a minimum of three years of Rust experience to aid in the development of these translation capabilities.
Microsoft’s ongoing Rust adoption continues
While the specific project remains in the research phase, Microsoft has been progressively integrating Rust into its products over the past few years. The company began rewriting segments of the Windows kernel in Rust in 2023, and Azure CTO Mark Russinovich has previously stated that Microsoft is “all-in” on the memory-safe language for new projects.
Rust provides inherent protections against common programming errors that can lead to security vulnerabilities, particularly those related to memory that have historically affected C and C++ codebases. Hunt’s research aims to expedite such migrations through AI-assisted translation, although he clarified that Rust is not necessarily the ultimate destination for all Microsoft code.
This project signifies Microsoft’s broader commitment to AI-powered development tools, although the timeline and scope remain less certain than initially implied.