From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id 908f391d for ; Sat, 5 Jan 2019 02:27:21 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 8B334A204D; Sat, 5 Jan 2019 12:27:20 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 905E1A1C5D; Sat, 5 Jan 2019 12:26:49 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id C52CCA1C5D; Sat, 5 Jan 2019 12:26:46 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (mail.cs.dartmouth.edu [129.170.212.100]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 251FEA1C50 for ; Sat, 5 Jan 2019 12:26:46 +1000 (AEST) Received: from tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (tahoe.cs.dartmouth.edu [129.170.212.20]) by mail.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.15.2) with ESMTPS id x052QiA3006768 (version=TLSv1.2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NO) for ; Fri, 4 Jan 2019 21:26:44 -0500 Received: from tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.14.3) with ESMTP id x052QiiJ089782 for ; Fri, 4 Jan 2019 21:26:44 -0500 Received: (from doug@localhost) by tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.15.2/Submit) id x052QigU089781 for tuhs@tuhs.org; Fri, 4 Jan 2019 21:26:44 -0500 From: Doug McIlroy Message-Id: <201901050226.x052QigU089781@tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU> Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2019 21:26:44 -0500 To: tuhs@tuhs.org User-Agent: Heirloom mailx 12.5 7/5/10 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [TUHS] Isaacson v Unix X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" I was given a copy of Walter Isaacson's "The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution". It devotes ten pages to Stallman and Gnu, Torvalds and Linux, even Tannebaum and Minix, but never mentions Thompson and Ritchie. Unix is identified only as a product from Bell Labs from which the others learned something--he doesn't say what. I have heard also that Isaacson's "Idea Factory" (about Bell Labs) barely mentions Unix. Is Isaacson blind, biased, or merely brainwashed? In the case of Steve Jobs, Isaacson tells not just that the Alto system from Xerox inspired him, but also who its star creators were: Lampson, Thacker and Kay. But then he stomps on them: "Once again, the greatest innovation would come not from the people who created the breakthroughs, but from the people who applied them usefully." While he very describes innovation as a continuum from invention through engineering to marketing, he seems to be more impressed by the later stages. Or maybe he just likes to tell stories, and didn't pick up all the good ones about Ken. Isaacson describes spacewar, arguably the first stage of computer-game innovation, at great length. At the same time, all he has to say about early-stage operating systems is a single sentence that credits John McCarthy with leading a time-sharing effort at MIT. (In my recollection, McCarthy proseletized; Corbato led.) He tells how ARPANET, which he says was mainly developed by BB&N, connected time-shared computers, but breathes not a word about Berkeley's work, without which ARPANET would have been an open circuit. "Innovators" won general critical praise. A couple of reviews predicted it would become the standard of the field. However, an evidently knowledgeable review in IEEE Annals of the History of Computing faulted it for peddling familiar potted legends without really digging for deeper insight. Regarding Thompson and Ritchie, it looks more like overt suppression. Doug