From omni@circus.com Fri Jul  8 15:29:34 1994
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Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 15:26:32 -0700
From: Anything for a weird life <omni@circus.com>
Message-Id: <9407082226.AA09547@circus.com>
To: falcon@circus.com
Subject: Geek history
Status: RO
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In case you didn't have it:

          The Day That UNIX Died 

        Long, long, time ago, I can still remember
        How UNIX used to make me smile...
        And I knew that with a login name
        That I could play those unix games
        And maybe hack some programs for a while.
        But February made me shiver
        With every program I'd deliver
        Bad news on the doorstep,
        I couldn't take one more spec...
        I can't remember getting smashed
        When I heard about the system crash
        And all the passwords got rehashed
        The Day That UNIX Died...
        And I was singing:

        Bye, bye, nroff, rogue and vi
        Gave my program to Phil Levy but Phil Levy was high,
        The boys on the board were sayin' "fuck this, goodbye."
        Singin' this'll be the day that I die...
        This'll be the day that I die

        Did you write the new games shell
        And do you have faith in the manual?
        If b:dennie tells you so...
        Well, do you believe in UNIX C
        Can hacking save you memory
        And can you tell me why vi's so slow
        Well, I know that you're in love with C
        'Cause I saw your code on UNIX B
        You just kicked off your shoes
        Man, you cleaned up every kludge!
        I was a lonely young computer geek
        With a program due 'most every week
        But I guess that I was meant to freak
        The Day That UNIX Died
        And I was singin:

        (chorus)

        Well, for ten weeks we've been in this class
        The professor really is an ass.
        But that's not how it used to be...
        When Ira Pohl taught in CIS 12
        And user limits could go to hell
        And there was still space on UNIX C.
        And while the board was looking 'round
        The Chancellor brought the budget down
        The classes were adjourned
        Evaluations weren't returned
        And while Huffman read a book by Pohl
        The CIS board made some prof's heads roll
        And we wrote programs that weren't whole
        The Day That UNIX Died
        And we were singin'...

        (chorus)

        Helter skelter in the summer swelter
        I went in the lab to find some shelter
        Ninety degrees and risin' faaaaaasst!!!
        C stayed up for ten whole days
        The hackers really were amazed
        Wonderin' how long it all would last.
        Well, both the forums were really great
        Nobody got us all irate
        We had a stroke of luck
        The system was not fucked
        'Cause the hackers kept their code real clean
        The UNDR-shell was really keen
        Do you recall what was the scene
        The Day That UNIX Died
        And we were singin...

        (chorus)

        Our programs were all in one place,
        UNIX had run out of space
        With no time left to start again...
        So, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,
        Use every programming trick
        'Cause UNIX may soon crash again...
        And as I watched the system fill
        My login process would be killed.
        The system just went down
        Consternation up at Crown"!!!
        The hours went on into the night
        And all that we could do was rite
        I saw Dennie laughing with delight
        The Day That UNIX Died
        And he was singin'...

        (chorus)

        I met a girl who sang the blues
        And I asked her for some stat lab news
        But she just cursed and said "grow up"
        I went down through the stat lab door
        Where I'd learned of UNIX years before
        But the man there said that UNIX wasn't up
        And in the halls the students screamed,
        The majors cried and the hackers dreamed,
        But not a word was spoken
        The Vaxes all were broken
        And the three folks I admire most
        The Father, Frank, and a.g.'s ghost
        They caught the last train for the coast
        The Day That UNIX Died
        And they were singin...

        So bye, bye, nroff, rogue and vi
        Gave my program to Phil Levy but Phil Levy was high.
        The boys on the board were sayin' "fuck this, goodbye"
        Singin' this'll be the day that I die...

                        (with apologies to Don McLean)

