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The book "Show-stopper!: The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft" (1994, G. Pascal Zachary) quotes: "Unix is like Cutler's

by 1wd 7y ago

The book "Show-stopper!: The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft" (1994, G. Pascal Zachary) quotes: "Unix is like Cutler's lifelong foe," said one team member who'd worked with Cutler for nearly two decades. "It's like his Moriarty. He thinks Unix is a junk operating program designed by a committee of Ph.D.s. There's never been one mind behind the whole thing, and it shows. So he's always been out to get Unix." (Why "M."?)

JdeBP 7y ago
Now contrast with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/320402189 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/320402189 , the widely recycled Wikipedia edit and the claim that had to be explained; which that does not even support, let alone explain. The Armando Stettner named in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/320396668 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/320396668 and other edits by the same person is the person who told the "sorry excuses for engineers" anecdote about xyrself, recorded in A Quarter Century of UNIX by Peter H. Salus. The irony is that there is better, more specific, documentation of M. Cutler's opinion of OS/2 (specifically its mutex mechanism) than there is of M. Cutler's opinion of Unix.
pdonis 7y ago
> G. Pascal Zachary I don't consider him a reliable source; he had a reputation for scandal mongering and misrepresentation.
- ghaff 7y ago
  I'd point out that at least one reference to Cutler and Unix in the book purports to be a direct quote from one of the team. If you're going to argue that he just made that quote up, I guess I can't argue with you of course.
  - pdonis 7y ago
    > at least one reference to Cutler and Unix in the book purports to be a direct quote from one of the team It could still be taken out of context, which was a common tactic of Zachary's when he wanted to misrepresent something. Or the team member the quote purports to be from could have been misunderstanding or misrepresenting or exaggerating Cutler's actual views, and Zachary could have picked that particular team member to quote from because it fit the narrative he was trying to construct, and ignored other team members who were saying different things.
- pdonis 7y ago
  For an example of Zachary's methods from the viewpoint of someone he interviewed and then misrepresented, see here: https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/www/chapter2_99.html https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/www/chapter2_99.html
bitwize 7y ago
M. is a common abbreviation for "monsieur". Perhaps the GP speaks French?
a1369209993 7y ago
> He thinks Unix is a junk operating program designed by a committee of Ph.D.s. Posix is the junk operating system designed by committee, but given their advertising, I'm not surprised he would confuse the two.
- icedchai 7y ago
  Posix doesn't exist on its own in isolation.

by 1wd 7y ago

JdeBP 7y ago

Now contrast with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/320402189 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/320402189 , the widely recycled Wikipedia edit and the claim that had to be explained; which that does not even support, let alone explain. The Armando Stettner named in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/320396668 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/320396668 and other edits by the same person is the person who told the "sorry excuses for engineers" anecdote about xyrself, recorded in A Quarter Century of UNIX by Peter H. Salus. The irony is that there is better, more specific, documentation of M. Cutler's opinion of OS/2 (specifically its mutex mechanism) than there is of M. Cutler's opinion of Unix.

pdonis 7y ago

> G. Pascal Zachary I don't consider him a reliable source; he had a reputation for scandal mongering and misrepresentation.

ghaff 7y ago
I'd point out that at least one reference to Cutler and Unix in the book purports to be a direct quote from one of the team. If you're going to argue that he just made that quote up, I guess I can't argue with you of course.
- pdonis 7y ago
  > at least one reference to Cutler and Unix in the book purports to be a direct quote from one of the team It could still be taken out of context, which was a common tactic of Zachary's when he wanted to misrepresent something. Or the team member the quote purports to be from could have been misunderstanding or misrepresenting or exaggerating Cutler's actual views, and Zachary could have picked that particular team member to quote from because it fit the narrative he was trying to construct, and ignored other team members who were saying different things.
pdonis 7y ago
For an example of Zachary's methods from the viewpoint of someone he interviewed and then misrepresented, see here: https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/www/chapter2_99.html https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/www/chapter2_99.html

bitwize 7y ago

M. is a common abbreviation for "monsieur". Perhaps the GP speaks French?

a1369209993 7y ago

> He thinks Unix is a junk operating program designed by a committee of Ph.D.s. Posix is the junk operating system designed by committee, but given their advertising, I'm not surprised he would confuse the two.

icedchai 7y ago
Posix doesn't exist on its own in isolation.