I
pioneered terminal-independent display support in ITS.
In addition I have implemented one crashproof file
system and two window systems for Lisp machines. As
fate would have it, Stallman's fanciful GNU Project
missed its Thanksgiving launch date. By January, 1984,
however, Stallman made good on his promise and fully
immersed himself in the world of Unix software
development. For a software architect raised on ITS, it
was like designing suburban shopping malls instead of
Moorish palaces. Even so, building a Unix-like
operating system had its hidden advantages. ITS had
been powerful, but it also possessed an Achilles' heel:
MIT hackers had designed it to take specific advantage
of the DEC-built PDP line. When AI Lab administrators
elected to phase out the lab's powerful PDP-10 machine
in the early 1980s, the operating system that hackers
once likened to a vibrant city became an instant ghost
town. Unix, on the other hand, was designed for
mobility and long-term survival. Originally developed
by junior scientists at AT&T, the program had slipped
out under corporate-management radar, finding a happy
home in the cash-strapped world of academic computer
systems.
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