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◈ALB Atlas

ITS Dead

ITS
KindOperating system
Appeared1967
Ended1990
StatusDead
CreatorMIT AI Lab
PlatformPDP-6/10
Also known asIncompatible Timesharing System

The anti-CTSS — MIT's deliberately incompatible, security-free timesharing system; home of Emacs, Maclisp, and the hacker culture the name still evokes.

Ran on PDP-10

The Incompatible Timesharing System was MIT's deliberate anti-Multics — written in assembly by the AI Lab hackers in 1967, no security on principle ('the philosophy of openness'), and designed for hackers by hackers.\n\nITS hosted the ARPANET's second node, the first EMACS, MacLisp, Macsyma, Adventure, and Zork. When the lab retired its last PDP-10 in 1990, the community mourned an era.