> Plan 9 has never approached Unix in popularity, and has been primarily a > research tool: > > Plan 9 failed simply because it fell short of being a > compelling enough improvement on Unix to displace its ancestor. > Compared to Plan 9, Unix creaks and clanks and has obvious rust > spots, but it gets the job done well enough to hold its > position. There is a lesson here for ambitious system > architects: the most dangerous enemy of a better solution is an > existing codebase that is just good enough. — Eric S. Raymond[3]
the implicit definition of success here—popularity—is one i would reject. popularity has nothing to do with fitness for a purpose. - erik
