Multics: Difference between revisions

Multics is an ambitious OS developed jointly by Bell Labs (dropped out of the project in 1969), General Electric (later Honeywell) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and funded largely by DARPA. The goal of this collaboration, dubbed Project MAC, was to create an operating system that worked as a water or electric utility does; running on a central mainframe which thousands of users would have access to. Because of this, stability and security were of the utmost importance.

Built on and hosted by machines running CTSS, development of Multics began in 1964; but a fully working system was not released until 1969.

Multics was plagued by complexity from the start, and at many points became almost too expensive and difficult to continue development. While largely a commercial disappointment, Multics implemented many novel ideas which went on to influence the other OSes of its time, most notably Unix. Many of Multics' features can be found in popular operating systems today.

In November of 2007, Multics' source code was made open by Groupe Bull; while machines capable of running Multics are long gone, a project to build a Honeywell 6180 (DPS-8) emulator is underway.

[[File:Multicsavi.png‎|left|thumb|100px|Multics-tan with her sceptre]] Multics-tan is depicted as a mature woman, mid-to-late 20s in apparent age, a little above average height with shapely hips, a curved waist and modest chest. She has long, slightly-waved dark plum hair, cornflower blue eyes and wings covered with mottled gray and black feathers. In the prime of her life, she often dressed in Rococo-inspired gowns, with deep necklines, multiple layers, corsets, hoop-skirts, bustles and petticoats common occurrences in her wardrobe. She is often depicted as having multiple piercings in both ears, wearing lipstick and eye-makeup and copious amounts of gold jewelry. Post-revival Multics dresses simply - usually being depicted in a sleeveless long off-white sundress and sporting henna-like adornments on her hands, feet and forehead.

A recurring theme in her design (both past and present) is rings and mazes, symbolic of Multics' ringed security features. Most notable among these being a round labyrinth-shaped tattoo on the upper part of her chest. In her youth, she owned a ornately decorated metal sceptre, however it was taken from her by Unix.  

[[File:MulitcsAltColor.jpg|right|thumb|100px|Alternate color scheme]]''(There is an alternate color scheme for Multics based on her widely-accepted animal anthropomorphism, the bald eagle. This color scheme calls for gold eyes and dark brown wings.)''