from Hacker News

The trouble with Unix (1981)

by hazelnut-tree on 3/6/23, 10:34 PM with 3 comments

• by simonblack on 3/6/23, 11:49 PM

  Don't forget that back in 1981 that the IBM-PC was just being released and PCDOS 1.0 was the main operating system for it. That's if you weren't using 8-bit CP/M instead. Directories and sub-directories? - what are those?

  Most (ALL?) of the criticisms of Unix in the article also applied to the operating systems of the day too. The Unix of the day was miles ahead of any of its peers. In fact, apart from the Desktop metaphor (which Unix had many years before Windows was a glint in Gates' eye), the directory-structure of the Unix of today is very little different. Showing that 'If it works, don't fix it'.

  It's often said that quality withstands the Test of Time. We're still using Unix 40 years after that article first came out. Even the Mac users. <grin>