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From: JONESD@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (David Jones)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Macintosh OS (was: 68000 and Wo
Message-ID: <5031@quanta.eng.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 27 May 90 20:29:20 GMT
References: <402@newave.UUCP> <3300131@m.cs.uiuc.edu>
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Organization: Ohio State University
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In article <3300131@m.cs.uiuc.edu>, gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu writes:
> There is a very
> beautiful paper by Butler Lampson, I believe, called "An open
> Operating System for a Single-User Machine" (circa 82-84).  Basically,
> Lampson observes that the advent of the personal computer allows us to
> return to the golden days of the 1950's, with a single programmer, a
> library, and a dedicated machine.  Apple's OS is a very close
> approximation of lampson's ideal environment.

If Apple's OS is very close to Lampson's ideal, then Lampson's model is flawed.
The primary complaint against Macintosh OS is the lack of true multi-tasking,
Lampson's ideal environment is only suitable for single-tasking use.

Multi-tasking requires that use of system resources, such as memory and
I/O devices, must be coordinated.  The cooperative approach doesn't work it
pratice, a protected kernel with time-slicing and tighly defined device
interfaces does.

David L. Jones               |      Phone:    (614) 292-6929
Ohio State Unviversity       |      Internet:
1971 Neil Ave. Rm. 406       |               jonesd@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu
Columbus, OH 43210           |               jones-d@eng.ohio-state.edu

Disclaimer: A repudiation of a claim.