Pioneer, then - surely, you beat the rush :).

On 3/6/24 1:53 PM, Douglas McIlroy wrote:
> Very kind words from Brantley and Clem. It's an interesting notion to 
> regard Unix as gestational until it came out in public talks (1973) 
> and was exported to universities.
>
> Maybe I could claim to have laid the groundwork for Unix by causing 
> Multics to be written in PL/I, a language big and sprawling, like the 
> project itself. That unintentionally provided plenty of stimulus for 
> thinking small. Ken was absolutely on his own when he began to fiddle 
> with building a tiny operating system on the GE 645. I heard about it 
> only after the fact.
>
> After Multics, I ran interference to keep our once-burned higher 
> management from frowning too much on further operating-system 
> research. I was aware that Ken, Dennis and Rudd were discussing the 
> subject down the hall from my office, but I did not participate in the 
> discussions. At the same time, I was noodling over what would later be 
> called shell pipelines; but I did not come up with the vivid term 
> "pipe"  or a halfway workable syntax for another three years. While 
> these actions may have contributed to a welcoming environment for 
> Unix, they in no way "started" it.
>
> Doug
>
> On Wed, Mar 6, 2024 at 10:03 AM Brantley Coile <brantley@coraid.com> 
> wrote:
>
>     It all depends on how you define "started."
>
>     Your contributions to it was done while it was still in the
>     maternity ward of the hospital in which it was birthed. I would
>     argue, at length if need be, but I suspect it's not needed, that
>     you indeed "started to develop it." Did only Ken started it. Who
>     was in the room when Ken outlined the file system? You're finger
>     prints are all over everything from very, very early.
>
>     From a quarter the way into the 21st century, you certainly appear
>     to have started to develop it.
>
>     Just my humble opinion. my disclaimer is that I've always held
>     your contributions in very high regard.
>
>     Brantley
>
>     > On Mar 6, 2024, at 9:55 AM, Douglas McIlroy
>     <douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu> wrote:
>     >
>     > > When Rudd, Doug, Ken, Dennis, et al start to develop UNIX
>     >
>     > Although I jumped into Unix as soon as it was born, I was not
>     one of those who "start[ed] to develop it".
>     >
>     > Doug
>