miw@uqcspe.OZ (Mark Williams) (03/21/88)
In article <2314@bsu-cs.UUCP> dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi) writes: > >Sure, and I suppose you'll tell us next that Kermit stands for >Kilobaud-rate ERror-free Microcomputer Information Transfer. Quote from: _KERMIT:_Users_Guide_and_Secification_ by Bill Catchings and Frank da Cruz Columbia University Centre for Computing Activities 17 September 1981 - No Rights Reserved - "Kermit is a set of programs that implement the "Kl 10 Error-free Reciprocal Microcomputer Interchange over Tty-lines" protocol. (However I saw in a later manual somewhere that the name KERMIT is used with permission of Henson and Associates.) >Guvf vf zber sha vs V yrnir bhg gur fzvyrl snpr. :-) >Rahul Dhesi UUCP: <backbones>!{iuvax,pur-ee,uunet}!bsu-cs!dhesi Mark Williams Arpa: ccwilliams%wombat.decnet.uq.oz@uunet.uu.net -- DISCLAIMER: Whenever I tell them my opinions they fall asleep. Pound for pound, the amoeba is the most vicious creature on earth.
tjfs@otter.hple.hp.com (Tim Steele) (03/25/88)
I have also seen (in Kermit documentation) the assertion that Kermit was used as it is the Celtic [sic] word for 'free'. Tim
pjh@mccc.UUCP (Peter J. Holsberg) (03/28/88)
In article <1590005@otter.hple.hp.com> tjfs@otter.hple.hp.com (Tim Steele) writes: |I have also seen (in Kermit documentation) the assertion that Kermit was used |as it is the Celtic [sic] word for 'free'. | |Tim "Kermit" is the Celtic word for "Beat L.A."! :-) -- Peter Holsberg UUCP: {rutgers!}princeton!mccc!pjh Technology Division CompuServe: 70240,334 Mercer College GEnie: PJHOLSBERG Trenton, NJ 08690 Voice: 1-609-586-4800
heiby@mcdchg.UUCP (Ron Heiby) (03/29/88)
Quoting from "Kermit - A File Transfer Protocol" by Frank da Cruz, published by Digital Press, 1987, ISBN 0-932376-88-6, page 3 (un-numbered). "We invented a new protocol and called it Kermit, after Kermit the Frog, star of "The Muppet Show." [3] [3] Why? Mostly because there was a Muppets calendar on the wall when we were trying to think of a name, and Kermit is a pleasant, unassuming sort of character. But since we weren't sure whether it was OK to name our protocol after this popular television and movie star, we pretended that KERMIT was an acronym; unfortunately, we could never find a good set of words to go with the letters, as readers of some of our early source code can attest. Later, while looking through a name book for his forthcoming baby, Bill Catchings noticed that "Kermit" was a Celtic word for "free", which is what all Kermit programs should be, and words to this effect replaced the strained acronyms in our source code (Bill's baby turned out to be a girl, so he had to name her Becky instead). When BYTE Magazine was preparing our 1984 Kermit article for publication, they suggested we contact Henson Associates Inc. for permission to say that we did indeed name the protocol after Kermit the Frog. Permission was kindly granted, and now the real story can be told. I resisted the temptation, however, to call the present work "Kermit the Book." I hope that clears things up sufficiently. -- Ron Heiby, heiby@mcdchg.UUCP Moderator: comp.newprod & comp.unix "I believe in the Tooth Fairy." "I believe in Santa Claus." "I believe in the future of the Space Program."