[rescue] Interesting bit on Multics

[Lionel Peterson]

--- "Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <gsm at mendelson.com> wrote:
> Lionel Peterson wrote:
> 
> > Oddly, it seems that Unix and Multics are on inverse paths (Multics
> > was expensive, now it is worthless and interesting - when Unix came
> > out, it was worthless and interesting, now it is expensive (at
least
> > that is what SCO thinks)...
> 
> I disagree. If UNIX was left the way it was in the begining, it would
> be worthless too. Everyone here with a PDP/7 please raise your
> hand :-)

My point was that Unix was unsalable - AT&T couldn't sell it as a
product, it was (originally) an  internal tool and an educational
oddity. This is for (mainly) legal reasons as I understand it, but I am
sure there was a fair smattering of ignorance ("Who would pay for
that?")
 
> What made UNIX worth something is that it grew, and grew, and grew.

I'm sure Multics grew and grew as well, maybe even faster than Unix!
;^)

Not to belabor the point, but:

Unix was originally coded by a few individuals at one company, Multics
was coded by hundreds of programers at many companies.

Unix was designed to scratch a personal itch, Multics was designed to
take over the world.

The comparisons could continue, but that is the vein I was persuing...

Multics is worth something, since folks here are willing to pay to get
access to the source code. Unix is worth something, since companies
still pay SCO for the privlidge of using the source code...

Just interesting, that's all...


=====
Lionel

"I am not into examining other peoples' dumps..." - Sheldon T. Hall

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
http://shopping.yahoo.com