From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: forsyth@caldo.demon.co.uk
Message-Id: <200008040826.EAA18405@cse.psu.edu>
To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu
Subject: Re: [9fans] ugrading edition 2 graphics to edition 3
Date: Fri,  4 Aug 2000 09:25:59 +0100
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>>I always assumed that title ("More Taste, Less Greed") was a takeoff
>>on a 1989 paper/talk by a D. Rosenthal (then at Sun I think) "More
>>Haste, Less Speed" where he says something like:

Yes, you're quite right.  I thought there were simpler, more obvious
explanations for the workstation disaster than those mentioned in
Rosenthal's paper.  He included a nod to `Chaos Theory' (as regards
paging).  I suggested instead the application of `Control Theory' (cf.
Maurice Wilkes' elegant paper on paging, inspired by an analysis of
EMAS), `careful design', and `reimplementation' as possible ways to
address the problem, supported by some worked examples.
Of course, the `more taste' aspect was intended
to emphasise that careful design involves careful choice and
composition of primitives and functionality.

The distribution is possibly less important to Plan 9 (for achieving
simplicity and a generally responsive environment) than the use of
name spaces containing file servers which provides structural support
for distribution but much more besides, and keeping the implementation
lean, and reasonable (able to be reasoned about).
It's perhaps a small part, but I'd include avoiding the #ifdef/#include pit in that.

Some people just never learn: special-purpose protocols, perverse
naming schemes, botched file servers, and every program a whole
operating system ... they just keep coming.