In article <[log in to unmask]>,
[log in to unmask] says...
>
>From the March 1997 Issue of Managing Automation magazine:
>
>"Automation Hall of Fame Winners
>
>... this year's Automation Hall of Fame Winners.
>
>...
>
>Dennis Ritchie and Kenneth Thompson: Developers of the UNIX operating system.
>This system, which has been a major force in engineering and computer-
>aided design, was first created out of an earlier system that had been
>developed at General Electric, with assistance from AT&T and others.
>UNIX is a very robust operating system with a tight code structure, few
>commands, and a simple structured architecture.  Written in C, it required
>creating a new programming language.  It can be moved from system to system
>without being recompiled."
>
>Comments, anyone?

This is classic!

In the words of Dave Barry, I swear I am not making this next part up: UNIX
was written by the "winners" so they could play a game called Space Travel on
their PDP 7 after AT&T and GE cancelled a *real* OS development project they
were on (MULTICS). UNIX was NOT ever intended to be used for anything even
remotely useful or important! The design decisions made at the time are still
largely in force...the fact that MULTICS was, from its inception, a secure
robust multi-user OS shows that Ritchie and friends KNEW what a real OS was,
and that UNIX was clearly not an attempt to be anything like that.

After 30 years and billions of dollars, the jury is still out on whether UNIX
is capable of hosting Space Travel effectively...

I imagine it required a new programming language because compilers of the day
refused to compile code that was so obviously retarded.

--
Mark Landin
T. D. Williamson, Inc.
UNIX Sys. Admin
"If you take the smooth, you gotta take the rough" -- Rob Halford