[cap-talk] Can we stop discussing Butler Lampson's opinions now?

[David-Sarah Hopwood]

Jed Donnelley wrote:
> On 4/10/2008 9:13 AM, David-Sarah Hopwood wrote:
> ...
>> ...Frankly, I don't see what this cult of personality is around Lampson
>> and his opinions. "He's just zis guy, you know?"
> 
> I brought his views up to begin with because, while he is only
> "zis guy" as you say, he is "zis guy" who:

[big snip]

> For example, I think the discussion of the results of the Cambridge
> Cap work is important.

Why?

It's one experimental hardware/OS project from ~30 years ago.
Countless thousands of operating system projects, most not involving
capabilities, never went anywhere -- very often for non-technical reasons.
The idea that you can conclude anything significant about an access
control model from a perceived failure (leaving aside whether Cap
actually was a failure) of a single OS project that used that model
is *utter nonsense*.


(BTW, "He's just zis guy, you know." is a quote from "Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy.")

-- 
David-Sarah Hopwood