Title
McIlroy, Malcom (Doug) Douglas oral history, part 2 of 2
Catalog Number
102740539
Type
Document
Description
Doug McIlroy was a key figure in computing at the Bell Telephone Laboratories from the 1950s into the 1990s, most especially to the development of Unix. In this audio-recorded oral history interview, the second of two parts, he discusses the aftermath of the Multics effort at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, and the origins of what would soon become known as the Unix operating system in his department by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie. McIlroy describes his early involvement in, appreciation of, and contributions to the development of Unix, including ‘pipes.’ He describes the growing community of Unix users and contributors within the Bell System, especially for document processing. McIlroy reviews the elaboration of Unix in the Writer’s Workbench and the Programmer’s Workbench, and the development of the ‘Unix philosophy.’ He discusses the licensing and adoption of Unix outside of the Bell System, and its influence. McIlroy discusses the development of the Plan 9 operating system in his department, and his decision to retire in 1996. He reviews his association with the computer science department at Dartmouth College thereafter.
Date
2019-11-06
Contributor
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Brock, David C., Interviewer
|
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McIlroy, Malcom D., Interviewee
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Publisher
Computer History Museum
Place of Publication
Etna, NH
Extent
52 p.
Format
PDF
Category
Transcription
Subject
Software; Operating systems (Computers); Multics; timesharing; UNIX; Bell Telephone Laboratories; Word processing; Computer science; Plan 9; Dartmouth College
Collection Title
CHM Oral History Collection
