Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins

From	"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid>
Newsgroups	comp.os.linux.misc
Subject	Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins
Date	2025-11-01 14:50 +0100
Message-ID	<rpfhtlxnn.ln2@Telcontar.valinor> (permalink)
References	(3 earlier) <mmd9tdFn64jU14@mid.individual.net> <10ds2lb$2l3kk$1@dont-email.me> <mmf22rF5icbU5@mid.individual.net> <reqetlxitk.ln2@Telcontar.valinor> <10e3fvk$rpu5$4@dont-email.me>

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On 2025-11-01 00:16, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
> On Fri, 31 Oct 2025 14:33:46 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:
> 
>> I just read the article, and I have to say that it happened because of
>> the culture in Bell Labs, and that money was not a problem. And they had
>> that money because the Bell company had that monopoly on phone service
>> and charged what they charged.
> 
> It is interesting to compare Bell Labs at AT&T, with PARC (the Palo Alto
> Research Center) at Xerox. The former was the birthplace of information
> theory, and Unix, among other things; the latter was the birthplace of the
> GUI, and Smalltalk, and Ethernet, among other things.
> 
> Both were essentially research playgrounds for bright people to try out
> risky new ideas, run at the expense of a vast parent corporation that made
> huge profits from a Government-granted monopoly (the US phone monopoly in
> the case of AT&T, patents on photocopiers in the case of Xerox).
> 
> And once the parent company lost that monopoly (the AT&T breakup, the
> expiry of those photocopier patents), the glory days at the research
> playground were over.

Exactly.

Bell Labs survived for a while after the AT&T breakup, but the coup de 
grâce came with the crash of Lucent in 2000.

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

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Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-28 20:03 +0000
  Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> - 2025-10-28 14:10 -0700
    Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Allodoxaphobia <trepidation@example.net> - 2025-10-28 22:43 +0000
      Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-29 01:45 +0000
        Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> - 2025-10-28 20:45 -0700
          Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-29 17:43 +0000
            Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> - 2025-10-29 14:01 -0400
              Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-30 02:45 +0000
            Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-10-29 22:00 -0400
              Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-30 03:00 +0000
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins John Ames <commodorejohn@gmail.com> - 2025-10-30 08:12 -0700
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-30 20:19 +0000
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Robert Riches <spamtrap42@jacob21819.net> - 2025-10-31 03:00 +0000
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-10-30 23:48 -0400
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2025-10-31 08:33 +0000
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-10-31 04:43 +0000
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2025-10-31 09:02 +0000
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins John Ames <commodorejohn@gmail.com> - 2025-10-31 08:59 -0700
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-31 20:24 +0000
              Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2025-11-01 03:40 +0000
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-11-01 00:45 -0400
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2025-11-02 03:15 +0000
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-11-01 23:35 -0400
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2025-11-02 11:25 +0000
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-02 21:08 +0100
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-11-02 21:51 +0000
            Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-10-31 14:33 +0100
              Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-10-31 23:16 +0000
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-11-01 05:41 +0000
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-11-01 02:18 -0400
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-P  icking Origins vallor <vallor@vallor.earth> - 2025-11-01 07:06 +0000
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-P  icking Origins rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-11-02 01:44 +0000
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-11-02 01:34 +0000
                Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-11-01 14:50 +0100
    Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-10-28 22:59 +0000
      Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-10-30 01:29 -0400
        Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-30 06:25 +0000
        Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2025-10-30 06:59 +0000
    Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-10-29 02:54 +0000
      Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-29 17:32 +0000
        Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> - 2025-11-01 10:30 +0000
    Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2025-10-29 11:22 +0000
    Re: Ken Thompson Recalls Unix’s Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-10-30 22:45 +0000

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