Jargon file v2.1.5 28 NOV 1990 -- part 5 of 6

[Rick Smith]

I detect some serious Multics ignorance here... check the entries
for MULTICS, BRAIN DAMAGE, and SECOND SYSTEM EFFECT. The correction
is lengthy...

First, MULTICS stands for "MULTIplexed Information and Computing Service,"
not "Multiprogrammed" whatever. Multics started as an ARPA/IPTO project
involving people from Project MAC (that's now MIT/LCS), Bell Labs, and
General Electric. Bell and MIT dropped out in '69. GE was bought by
Honeywell and Honeywell offered Multics 'commercially' in the early 70s.
BTW, A common term for Multics hackers, out here anyway, was MULTICIAN.

The classical definition of BRAIN DAMAGE (qv JARGON.TXT circa '79) derived
it from HBD ("Honeywell Brain Damage"), a term applied to certain nasty
things done to Multics after Honeywell took it over, NOT the whole system.
For example, there are some weird accounting practices that would boot
people off unnecessarily. Also, Multics security was of the B&D variety,
not at all consistent with the ITS :CRASH mindset. Of course, DOD
loved it and their security jocks gave it the first B2 security rating.

In general, Multics was an incredible piece of work. Lots and Lots of
orthogonality. Everything was a segment, like Unix' 'everything a file.'
Multics was the first major system developed using a high level language,
and (like Unix in the good old days) the source was ONLINE. Unlike
many timesharing systems at the time, you could do EVERYTHING through
timesharing -- you never *needed* to run a batch job to do some mundate
system task. IBM, GE, CDC, ad nauseum, eat your hearts out.

The Problem with Multics was that it ran on Big Iron. PDP-10s weren't big
iron, not quite. Big Iron is EXPENSIVE. Few hackers were invited to hack
away at Multics, though there were enough to make it a really fine place
to work. The high cost made Bell Labs decide to not use it. And the SUITS
who sold computers for Honeywell didn't want to be bothered with Multics:
it wasn't the same as the ugly GECOS/GCOS boxes that they all knew how
to sell. There were never more than a handful of Multics systems, and
I only remember ever seeing 3 of them on the Arpanet.

The SECOND SYSTEM EFFECT was a term used by Fred Brooks in his classic
book "Mythical Man Month." It described the jump from a set of nice, simple,
operating monitors on the IBM 70xx series to OS/360 on the 360 series.
OS/360 and its unfortunate offspring set the standard for ELEPHANTINE, UGLY,
WRONG THING, and so on. The SECOND SYSTEM EFFECT has to do with BRUTE FORCE
implementation of CHROME, BELLS, and WHISTLES, and not with mere size and
cost.

What is the source of this nonsense describing Multics as the SECOND
SYSTEM EFFECT applied to CTSS? That's as fair as comparing Unix V6
(as CTSS) with today's Unix (as Multics). Sure, V6 is clean and simple,
but it doesn't make very good use of virtual memory and it doesn't support
a zillion users, TCP, or windows.

A Unix hacker can't sneer at Multics. It's like sneering at your grandad.
Sure he's a doddering wreck, but he created some pretty fine stuff that
we can still be proud of. You, for example.

Rick.
smith at sctc.com   Arden Hills, Minnesota