warning: slow link ...
Some notes on the "Who wrote Linux" Kerfuffle
<http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/brown/>
by Andy Tanenbaum, 20 May 2004
"The history of UNIX and its various children and grandchildren
has been in the news recently as a result of a book from the
Alexis de Tocqueville Institution. Since I was involved in part
of this history, I feel I have an obligation to set the record
straight and correct some extremely serious errors. But first
some background information.
Ken Brown, President of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution,
contacted me in early March. He said he was writing a book on
the history of UNIX and would like to interview me. Since I have
written 15 books and have been involved in the history of UNIX
in several ways, I said I was willing to help out. I have been
interviewed by many people for many reasons over the years, and
have been on Dutch and US TV and radio and in various newspapers
and magazines, so I didn't think too much about it."
and
"My conclusion is that Ken Brown doesn't have a clue what he is
talking about. I also have grave questions about his methodology.
After he talked to me, he prowled the university halls buttonholing
random students and asking them questions. Not exactly primary sources."
and finally
"Some of you may find it odd that I am defending Linus here.
After all, he and I had a fairly public "debate" some years back.
My primary concern here is trying to get the truth out and not
blame everything on some teenage girl from the back hills of West
Virginia. Also, Linus and I are not "enemies" or anything like that.
I met him once and he seemed like a nice friendly, smart guy.
My only regret is that he didn't develop Linux based on the
microkernel technology of MINIX. With all the security problems
Windows has now, it is increasingly obvious to everyone that
tiny microkernels, like that of MINIX, are a better base for
operating systems than huge monolithic systems. Linux has been
the victim of fewer attacks than Windows because (1) it actually
is more secure, but also (2) most attackers think hitting Windows
offers a bigger bang for the buck so Windows simply gets attacked
more. As I did 20 years ago, I still fervently believe that the
only way to make software secure, reliable, and fast is to make
it small."
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