Multics

Definitions

1. Multiplexed Information and Computing Service — an ambitious time-sharing operating system begun in 1964 that introduced hierarchical file systems, dynamic linking, and ring-based security. Though considered a commercial failure, Multics directly inspired Unix (whose name is a pun on it) and thus most modern operating systems.

   In plain English: A 1960s operating system project that was too ambitious to succeed, but its ideas live on because the people who built it went on to create Unix.

   Example: Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie worked on Multics at Bell Labs before creating Unix, which was essentially Multics with the ambition surgically removed.

Related Terms

• mainframe
• minicomputer
• time-sharing