ITS
:ITS:: /I-T-S/ n. 1. Incompatible Time-sharing System, an influential
though highly idiosyncratic operating system written for PDP-6s and
PDP-10s at MIT and long used at the MIT AI Lab. Much AI-hacker jargon
derives from ITS folklore, and to have been `an ITS hacker' qualifies
one instantly as an old-timer of the most venerable sort. ITS pioneered
many important innovations, including transparent file sharing between
machines and terminal-independent I/O. After about 1982, most actual
work was shifted to newer machines, with the remaining ITS boxes run
essentially as a hobby and service to the hacker community. The shutdown
of the lab's last ITS machine in May 1990 marked the end of an era and
sent old-time hackers into mourning nationwide (see high moby
. 2. A
mythical image of operating-system perfection worshiped by a bizarre,
fervent retro-cult of old-time hackers and ex-users (see troglodyte
sense 2). ITS worshipers manage somehow to continue believing that an OS
maintained by assembly-language hand-hacking that supported only
monocase 6-character filenames in one directory per account remains
superior to today's state of commercial art (their venom against Unix
is particularly intense). See also holy wars
, Weenix
Jargon File Version 4.3.1, 29 JUN 2001 =
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