Re: Err...
He's saying like almost everything serious on windows, SQL Server is basically wrappers around COM components under the covers. The chances are it makes liberal uses of the Windows API and the various non-portables weirdness that working on Windows brings[1]
[1] MS suggest using non-portable ZeroMemory api function rather than memset as Visual C++ may decide to remove the portable code but surprisingly the ZeroMemory function is never removed.
MS encapsulated the plumbing SQL Server requires in such a way as now it can use implementations of COM on other platforms. They have form for this, e.g. DirectX to XBox etc. They likely also wrapped the various Windows calls so it builds on a sane platform.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
