Plan 9

Posted Apr 1, 2005 5:19 UTC (Fri) by ncm (guest, #165)
In reply to: "I feel dirty" by Zarathustra
Parent article: Stallman on the State of GNU/Linux (OfB)

Plan 9 wasn't Free Software until very recently. When Bell published it under a not-really-free license, it was RMS who explained to them why no community was developing. When they finally really-released it, it was probably too late. If they had listened earlier, Plan 9 might have been the basis for something really important. It might even have displaced POSIX, if (e.g.) Apple had used it under Macosix, or IBM had picked it up for their company-wide OS consolidation. Now, tragically, it's just a fascinating curiosity.