pratt%navajo@sri-unix.UUCP (01/04/84)
From: Vaughan Pratt <pratt@navajo> I thought Henry Spencer's comeback to Nat Mishkin's latest round of criticisms of Unix [V4#2] very a propos: Unix is ubiquitous, standard, and good. I would add a fourth quality: Unix is adaptable. The longterm experience with Unix has been that it is possible for Unix to adapt to new technology. This has been demonstrated for >16-bit addressing, virtual memory, interactive graphics, laser printers, networking, and distributed file systems, to name a few items. The adaptation of Unix to most of these technologies has been a nontrivial effort, and in some cases, notably DFS, an ongoing effort that has resisted smooth exporting. However Unix has demonstrated beyond all question that it is not a static system, with respect to either porting to other machines (the source of its ubiquity) or its adaptability to new technology. If you think Unix is a PDP-11-dweller then that makes you a cave-dweller. Unix has left its cave. I am confident that it will leave its grass hut in due course. Unix has great survival potential. --Vaughan Pratt