Multics myth [LWN.net]

Multics myth

Posted Aug 20, 2009 23:46 UTC (Thu) by snits (guest, #37976)
Parent article: 40 years of Unix (BBC)

It is a shame that people can't get facts straight about Multics. This seems to happen repeatedly in texts and articles about UNIX.

AT&T, MIT, and GE didn't pull the plug on the project. AT&T walked away from the project when it didn't appear it would achieve it's goals any time soon. MIT & GE/Honeywell continued on with the project and Multics eventually made it into production. It was sold through 1987 and was running until 2000.

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Multics source

Posted Aug 21, 2009 2:29 UTC (Fri) by dmarti (subscriber, #11625) [Link]

And today MIT has the source, under this license: "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that this copyright notice and the above historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission."