cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) (06/26/89)
The history provided by Mark is close, but no cigar: In article <18501@louie.udel.EDU> nelson@udel.EDU (Mark Nelson) writes: }In article <SHADOW.89Jun26071107@daniel.pawl.rpi.edu> shadow@pawl.rpi.edu (Deven T. Corzine) writes: } }[Discussion of copyrighting your own version of Emacs, and whether }[it would then be based on GNU Emacs, which is not PD, deleted. }> }>[or if not, I challenge you to show me the version of }>Emacs than GNU Emacs was based on] (not I bet you will, too... }>*sigh*)) is NOT PD. Actually, I guess you could be right; GNU Emacs }>could have been based on some system's editor, but I've NEVER heard }>such a thing said. (but then, gcc is definitely modelled (externally) }>after your "standard" Unix cc...) "Based on" is in the eye of the beholder. If you read a Shakespeare play, then close the book and write a play that looks _awfully_ familiar, you can argue that EVERY word came right out of your head. I believe Bernie Greenberg's Lisp implementation of EMACS for Multics is the actual "parent" of GNU Emacs. Dunno about the status of that version (it is probably PD), but at least you can go try to find out if you care. This almost certainly does not taint the parentage of GNU Emacs, but at least temper how much credit you give RMS for "inventing" it all [RMS, himself, invents and has invented very little : what he does, probably better than anyone in the world, is implement OTHER people's ideas] }The original, granddady of them all Emacs was written by Richard }Stallman for a PDP-10 running the ITS operating system at MIT. Don't believe that: EMACS predates Stallman's arrival at MIT. He didn't even write the SECOND version of Emacs (Bernie Greenberg's, mentioned above). The existence and basic form of Emacs was a done deal before RMS appeared on the scene. }It started as a collection of macros for the TECO editor (the }MIT version of TECO, not the bowdlerized version from DEC). Actually, TECO was *written* at MIT (for the PDP-1 --- it was written by Dan Murphy) I don't believe that the ITS version of TECO had *anything* to do with DEC's release of that editor: that is, TECO went from Jack Dennis's RLE to Minsky's AI-lab-full-of-PDP-6's directly, no DEC involved. ITS was written for the PDP-6, Decsystem-10s came later. }Hence Emacs from Editor MACros. At last, a bit of history that is correct... :-) Now you can work on what "ITS" stands for and what "TECO" stands for.... :-):-) /Bernie\
fc@lexicon.com (Frank Cunningham) (06/27/89)
In article <41968@bbn.COM> cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) writes: > Actually, TECO was *written* at MIT (for the PDP-1 --- it was written by Dan > Murphy) I don't believe that the ITS version of TECO had *anything* to do with > /Bernie\ That's Dan "Mad Man" Murphy to his radio fans. ITS = Incompatible Time Sharing, an oxymoron if ever .... -- -Frank Cunningham smart: fc@lexicon.com dumb: {husc6,linus,harvard,bbn}!spdcc!lexicon!fc phone: (617) 891-6790