Systems

Multics

Also Known As Multiplexed Information and Computing Service

Operating System

Citation Formats

General Reference

Computing Atlas. "Multics." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/systems/multics.

APA Style

Computing Atlas. (n.d.). Multics. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/systems/multics

BibTeX

@misc{computingatlas-multics,
  author = {Computing Atlas},
  title = {Multics},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/systems/multics},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) was an early, influential time sharing operating system built around single level memory, mapping files directly into a program's address space. Developed jointly by MIT, General Electric and Bell Labs beginning in 1964, it achieved limited commercial success but pioneered concepts, including hierarchical file systems, dynamic linking and ring based security, adopted broadly in later operating systems, including Unix.

Facts

Year

1964 1

Significance

Its complexity prompted Bell Labs researchers, including Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, to withdraw and build a simpler alternative that became Unix, which in turn shaped nearly every operating system that followed. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Fernando Corbato

Led the Multics development project at MIT Project MAC from its beginning in 1963 into the mid-1970s; Multics was a joint MIT, Bell Labs and General Electric project rather than a single inventor's work.

Source Multicians.org: Corby

Parallel Computing

Source Wikipedia: Parallel computing

In Field

Operating Systems

Source Wikipedia: Multics

Invented By

Fernando Corbato

Fernando Corbato led the Multics project at MIT (Project MAC), the pioneering time-sharing operating system that directly influenced the design of Unix.

Source Wikipedia: Fernando J. Corbato