[TUHS] June 8, 2026 – Vivian Voss – Where Unix Runs Today

[steve jenkin via TUHS]

I've heard Andy Tanenbaum say on a video-link address:

	"No Unix, No Lions Commentary, No MINIX, No Linux, No Android,"	 [ didn't add "No iOS/MacOS" ]

He was more circumspect & expansive in his CACM article on the topic.

> On 4 Aug 2026, at 17:02, segaloco via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
> 
> I appreciate this, as being the nerd I am, I proselytize on UNIX's
> influence and presence in most of our modern computing world to my
> friends every so often. 


Lessons Learned from 30 Years of MINIX, 
	March 2016, CACM 
	<https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2016/3/198874-lessons-learned-from-30-years-of-minix/fulltext>

	I decided to write a book describing the code, like Lions did before me,
        and have my publisher, Prentice Hall, distribute the system, 
        including all source code, as an adjunct to the book.

	Thirty years later the consequences of Van Renesse's offhand remark are enormous.
        If he had not mentioned interrupt 15, I would probably have eventually given up in despair.

        Without MINIX, it is inconceivable there would have been a Linux
        since Linus Torvalds learned about operating systems by studying the MINIX source code
        in minute detail and using it as a base to write Linux.

        Without Linux, there would not have been an Android since it is built on top of Linux.
        Without Android, the relative stock prices of Apple and Samsung might be quite different today.

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Related links, including videos in a blog post:
	<https://stevej-on-it.blogspot.com/2022/04/john-lions-unix-commentary-tanenbaum-on.html>

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--
Steve Jenkin, IT Systems and Design 
0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915)
PO Box 38, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA

mailto:sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin