Andrew S. Tanenbaum quotes

Andrew S. Tanenbaum is an American-Dutch computer scientist, renowned for his contributions to computer science education and operating systems. His books, especially "Modern Operating Systems" and "Computer Networks," are widely used in universities around the world. He developed the MINIX operating system, which influenced the creation of Linux. Here are 23 of his quotes:

The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose from.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

If you just want to use the system, instead of hacking on its internals, you don't need source code.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

Fight Features. ... The only way to make software secure, reliable, and fast is to make it small.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

I really am not angry with Linus. Honest. He's not angry with me either.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

However, as every parent of a small child knows, converting a large object into small fragments is considerably easier than the reverse process.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

A multithreaded file system is only a performance hack.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

The only real argument for monolithic systems was performance, and there is now enough evidence showing that microkernel systems can be just as fast as monolithic systems.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

UNIX does not allow path names to be prefixed by a drive name or number; that would be precisely the kind of device dependence that operating systems ought to eliminate.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

Writing a portable OS is not much harder than a nonportable one, and all systems should be written with portability in mind these days.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

I had never engaged in remote multishrink psychoanalysis on this scale before, so it was a fascinating experience.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

While most people can talk rationally about kernel design and portability, the issue of free-ness is 100% emotional.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

A lot of other people wanted a free production UNIX with lots of bells and whistles and wanted to convert MINIX into that. I was dragged along in the maelstrom for a while, but when Linux came along, I was actually relieved that I could go back to professoring.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

"Linux is a leprosy; ..." This statement is not grammatically or factually correct.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

Unfortunately, the current generation of mail programs do not have checkers to see if the sender knows what he is talking about.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

LINUX is obsolete.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

System designers who do not allow users to type far ahead ought to be tarred and feathered, or worse yet, be forced to use their own system.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

"He" should be read as "he or she" throughout the book.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

Will we soon see President Bush coming to Europe with Richard Stallman and Rick Rashid in tow, demanding that Europe import more American free software?

Andrew S. Tanenbaum

Many security texts decompose the security of an information system in three components: confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Together, they are often referred to as "CIA". [They] constitute the core security properties that we must protect against attackers and eavesdroppers-such as the (other) CIA.

Andrew S. Tanenbaum