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◈ALB Atlas

CTSS Dead

CTSS
KindOperating system
Appeared1961
Ended1964
StatusDead
CreatorFernando Corbató / MIT
PlatformIBM 709/7094
Also known asCompatible Time-Sharing System

The first timesharing system — MIT's Compatible Time-Sharing System proved dozens of users could share one machine, and named the ancestor of everything Multics touched.

John McCarthy's suggestion and Fernando Corbató's team built the Compatible Time-Sharing System at MIT in 1961 — the first timesharing system, letting three terminals share an IBM 709. Its command shell (RUNCOM) is the ancestor of every command line since; 'shell' and 'daemon' enter the vocabulary here.\n\nCTSS was the immediate predecessor and laboratory for Multics — the project that grew out of it would teach the world what timesharing should be, and inspire Unix as the reaction.