Re: UNIX systems

Dan Cross <cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net> wrote:

In article <87o6y7bomx.fsf@example.com>,
Salvador Mirzo  <smirzo@example.com> wrote:

onion@anon.invalid (Mr Èn!on) writes:
>

Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> wrote:
>

I believe Plan 9 is doing pretty well ...

>
<https://youtu.be/-zNSQmS2gls>

>
Thanks!  Have you watched?  Can you explain why they choose the name?

 
The operating system or the movie?  I don't know why the movie
was called that; perhaps Ed Wood just thought it was clever.  It
refers to a plot point, the 9th extraterrestrial plan to destroy
earth.
 
At Bell Labs, in the 1127 research group, it was something of a
tradition to give things names that were a bit of a joke, and
also gave others headaches.  The original name for "Unix" was
UNICS, as a pun on Multics, for example (and some have claimed
it had a double meaning as an off-color joke making reference to
a "castrated" version of its predecessor, especially given that
the usual pronunciation was aliterative with the word "eunuchs".
I'm not sure I believe that, though).
 
Anyway, Plan 9, the operating system, was named in a similar
vein after the movie.  There are a few other historical movie
references associated with it, as well: the original window
system was named "8 1/2" (though using the Unicode code point
for the fraction 1/2), in reference to the Fellini film.  In
between the 2nd and 3rd Editions, the working name for the
system at the Labs was "Brazil", in homage to the Terry Gilliam
dystopian cult classic.  While the name was changed back to Plan
9 for the open source 3rd Edition release, a small reference to
this is left in the name of the current window system, "rio",
presumably a reference to Rio de Janeiro.
 
      - Dan C.
>

Addendum:  'Plan 9 From Outer Space' is widely thought to be the worst
movie ever made.  I do hope that this does not reflect anybody's adverse
opinion of Plan 9 OS . . .

--
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(((Ï)))  -  Mr Ön!on
 
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