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If anyone had realized that within 10 years this tiny system that was picked up almost by accident was going to be controlling 50 million computers, considerably more thought might have gone into it.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

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Andrew S. Tanenbaum
Age: 80
Born: 1944
Born: March 16
Academic
Computer Scientist
Engineer
Physicist
Professor
Programmer
Writer
New York City
New York
Andrew Stuart Andy Tanenbaum
Andrew Tanenbaum
Andy Tanenbaum
Andrew Stuart Tanenbaum
Within
Accidents
Anyone
Realized
Gone
Tiny
Thought
Million
Considerably
Might
Computer
Controlling
Going
Millions
Computers
Years
System
Picked
Almost
Accident

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UNIX does not allow path names to be prefixed by a drive name or number that would be precisely the kind of device dependence that operating systems ought to eliminate.
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The only way to make software secure, reliable, and fast is to make it small.
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While most people can talk rationally about kernel design and portability, the issue of free-ness is 100% emotional.
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I really am not angry with Linus. Honest. He's not angry with me either.
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XML combines the efficiency of text files with the readability of binary files
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Microkernels are not a pipe dream. They represent proven technology.
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I had never engaged in remote multishrink psychoanalysis on this scale before, so it was a fascinating experience.
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Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.
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With current technology it is possible to put four floppy disk drives in a personal computer. It is just that doing so would be pointless.
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'Linux is a leprosy' - This statement is not grammatically or factually correct.
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A couple of years ago this guy called Ken Brown wrote a book saying that Linus stole Linux from me It later came out that Microsoft had paid him to do this
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A refund for defective software might be nice, except it would bankrupt the entire software industry in the first year.
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A lot of other people wanted a free production UNIX with lots of bells and whistles and wanted to convert MINIX into that. I was dragged along in the maelstrom for a while, but when Linux came along, I was actually relieved that I could go back to professoring.
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A multithreaded file system is only a performance hack.
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Sequential programming is really hard, and parallel programming is a step beyond that.
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However, as every parent of a small child knows, converting a large object into small fragments is considerably easier than the reverse process.
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Unfortunately, the current generation of mail programs do not have checkers to see if the sender knows what he is talking about.
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Writing a portable OS is not much harder than a nonportable one, and all systems should be written with portability in mind these days.
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But in all honesty, I would suggest that people who want a modern free OS look around for a microkernel-based, portable OS, like maybe GNU or something like that.
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The only real argument for monolithic systems was performance, and there is now enough evidence showing that microkernel systems can be just as fast as monolithic systems.
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