We argue that the trajectory of the “file” abstraction through Unix and Plan 9 culminates in a Smalltalk-style object
Interesting thought. I also like this excerpt from the conclusion:
Smalltalk’s modernist narrative holds that unification entails implementing one “unified” system — a Smalltalk system. […] This preference for building a Smalltalk out of the fragmented reality of today’s Unix systems, rather than running isolated Smalltalks (i.e. Smalltalk VMs) each trapped within a Unix, parallels a contrast made by Plan 9’s designers to Unix. Plan 9 was an attempt, they wrote, “to build a Unix out of little systems… not a system out of little Unixes” [Pike et al. 1990].
Really good and interesting paper precisely defining of what I have been annoyed lately.
Related: https://lobste.rs/s/mgimff/squeak_is_like_operating_system
Interesting thought. I also like this excerpt from the conclusion: