Multics

	This is the JargonFile ^(V4.00) entry for Multics - Next: multitask, Prev: multician
:Multics:: /muhltiks/ /n./ [from "MULTiplexed Information and Computing Service"] An early (late 1960s) timesharing operating system co-designed by a consortium including MIT, GE, and Bell Laboratories. Multics was very innovative for its time --- among other things, it introduced the idea of treating all devices uniformly as special files. All the members but GE eventually pulled out after determining that second-system effect had bloated Multics to the point of practical unusability (the lean predecessor in question was CTSS). Honeywell commercialized Multics after buying out GEs computer group, but it was never very successful (among other things, on some versions one was commonly required to enter a password to log out). One of the developers left in the lurch by the projects breakup was Ken Thompson, a circumstance which led directly to the birth of [[[[Unix]]]]. For this and other reasons, aspects of the Multics design remain a topic of occasional debate among hackers. See also brain-damaged and GCOS.
* (text is auto-included via JargonExtension by mutante using jargon with VERSION 4.0.0, 24 JUL 1996 - JargonFile by Eric S. Raymond is in the public domain)