For more historical information, see Multics History. The site timeline is a graphical presentation of events in Multics history.
| 1957 | Sputnik |
| 1959 | John McCarthy proposes time-sharing in memo to Philip M. Morse, director of the MIT Computation Center. |
| 1961 | Burroughs B5000 (Algol, dual CPUs, segmentation) |
| 11/61 | MIT Computation Center running IBM 709. 4-user tape CTSS demonstrated. |
| 05/62 | Paper on CTSS presented at Spring Joint Computer Conference. |
| 08/62 |
MIT Computation Center upgraded to IBM 7090. CTSS runs on new hardware. First Paper on Internet Concept by J. C. R. Licklider & Welden Clark, "On-Line Man Computer Communication". |
| 09/62 |
 BBN timesharing system operational on Digital Equipment PDP-1
|
| 11/62 | MIT Project MAC suggested by J. C. R. Licklider. |
| 12/62 | Ferranti Atlas (paging) (12/7/62) |
| 1963 | Timesharing running at SDC on spare AN/FSQ-32 (funded by ARPA) |
| 01/63 | Project MAC proposal submitted to ARPA. |
| 03/63 | Project MAC authorized & funded by ARPA IPTO. ($3 million contract) |
| 04/63 | MIT Computation Center 7090 with second 32K memory, 1302 disk, 7750 |
| 05/63 | Initial JOSS service on JOHNNIAC at RAND. |
| 07/63 | Project MAC summer study, using CTSS on Computation Center IBM 7090, attended by many computer scientists. |
| 09/63 |
Project to establish a
time-sharing system at Dartmouth
begun by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz.
|
| 10/63 | Project MAC IBM 7090 (red machine) installed, later upgraded to 7094 II. |
| 04/64 | IBM announces System/360 (4/7/64) |
| 05/64 | DTSS brought up at Dartmouth on a GE-225/DATANET-30. (05/01/64, 4AM) |
| 06/64 | Corby's group moved to Tech Square |
| 08/64 | General Electric selected as supplier for MAC research machine, contract signed. |
| 11/64 | Bell Labs joins Multics project with MIT and GE |
| 1965 | First inter-computer communication, between TX-2 and Q-32 (Marill and Roberts) |
| 08/65 |
GE 635 delivered to Project MAC, 6.36 simulator running IBM announces TSS/360 CTSS MAIL command available to users
|
| 11/65 | Special Multics session at Fall Joint Computer Conference, 6 papers presented. |
| 06/66 | Flag Day (06/14/66) |
| 1967 | WYLBUR and ORVYL developed at Stanford on 360/67. |
| 01/67 | GE 645 delivered to Project MAC |
| 03/67 |
GE 635 removed from Project MAC milestone phase .5 (file system on 645 simulator) |
| 05/67 |
MTS in service at Michigan
|
| 09/67 |
Digital Equipment PDP-10 announced
TENEX begun at BBN |
| 12/67 | milestone phase 1 (single process boot on 645) |
| 03/68 | milestone A3 - 3 processes (Rappaport) |
| 04/68 | IBM decommits TSS/360 |
| 05/68 | IBM releases CP/67 version 1 to 8 sites |
| 07/68 | First Multics picnic |
| 08/68 | RADC GE-645 installed |
| 10/68 | Demonstrable Initial Multics milestone (8 users) |
| 12/68 |
Multics running console sessions in 545 Tech Sq, self-hosting
moved MAC 7094 to MIT IPC, building 39 |
| 01/69 | Limited Initial Multics milestone (12 users) |
| 01/69 | Integrated mini-GIM & TTY DIM into system |
| 04/69 |
Bell Labs drops out of Multics development Unix begun on PDP-7 at Bell Labs IBM un-decommits TSS/360 |
| 05/69 | file system 2.0 |
| 06/69 | milestone 3.0.10 |
| 07/69 | Experimental MIT use of Multics (Cambridge Project) |
| 10/69 |
MSS 4.0 - Multics public at MIT new PL1 compiler, new traffic control First ARPANet connection UCLA-SRI (10/29/69) |
| 12/69 | MSS 5.0 - DSU270's (10 MB disk) |
| 03/70 |
MSS 6.0 - Revised command loop MSS 7.0 - page control rewrite DEC announces PDP-11 (3/28/70) |
| 05/70 | First Multics talk at GESHUA XI in Seattle (THVV) |
| 06/70 |
MSS 8.0 - pre-paging and post-purging
TENEX on the air (6/15/70) |
| 08/70 |
MSS 9.0 - new Directory Control, User Control Multics installed on RADC machine |
| 10/70 |
MSS 10.0 - new ttydim Honeywell buys GE computer division: the "merger" |
| 11/70 | MSS 11.0 - new init |
| 12/70 |
MSS 12.0 - Support for DSU170's MSS 13.0 - Associative Memory fix Unix ported to PDP-11 at Bell Labs |
| 1971 | Software Factory on BCO 645 installed |
| 01/71 | MSS 14.0 - Moved processes from ring 32 to ring 4 |
| 01/71 | Multics Symposium at MIT Jan 21-22 |
| 04/71 |
MSS 15.0 - retrofit. DTSS simulator using Dartmouth BASIC |
| 05/71 | IBM decommits TSS/360 again |
| 09/71 |
MIT 645 Multics providing service on ARPANet (host #6) via GIMPSPIF.(RFC 0252) RCA sells its computer division to Univac |
| 1972 | Paris 645 installed at Bull on Av. Gambetta |
| 11/72 |
MIT 6180 delivered System M "6090" installed. |
| 12/72 | MSS 18.0. - ACL redo: CACLs eliminated |
| 01/73 | Multics and H6180 announcement at Boston Museum of Science (01/17/73) |
| 07/73 | CTSS turned off at MIT IPC (07/20/73) |
| 11/73 | AFDSC installed |
| 12/73 | MIT 6180 Multics connected to ARPANet (host #44) by ABSI. |
| 12/73 | Thompson and Ritchie present Unix paper at ACM SOSP |
| 1974 | CISL development machine installed |
| 01/74 |
MSS 22.0 Ford installed |
| 05/74 | GM Corporate (GMISCA) installed |
| 06/74 | MR 1.0: First standard release. Compilers support EIS, BASIC, GCOS Simulator, DSS191. Enhanced PL/I, FORTRAN. |
| 1975 | RADC, BCO, System M upgraded to 6180s |
| 01/75 | MR 2.0: CPU cache, NPS, 1600bpi tape, TN1200. Enhanced PL/I, FORTRAN, tape. |
| 03/75 | MR 2.1: iox_, probe, trace, debug, On-line T&D. Enhanced administration & metering, GCOS. |
| 06/75 | MR 2.2: Secure Mail. Enhanced PL/I, FORTRAN, BASIC, system tools. |
| 09/75 | MR 3.0: MCS, Scheduler, RCP, COBOL-74, SORT. Enhanced GCOS. |
| 1975 | Ford deinstalled |
| 07/75 | University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL) installed |
| 1976 | DCC, USGS Reston installed |
| 02/76 | MSS 28.0: New storage system |
| 03/76 | MR 3.1: AIM, DTSS Simulator, HEALS, 4 FNPs. Enhanced PL/I, FORTRAN, COBOL, ALM, commands. |
| 07/76 | MR 4.0: New storage system, MRDS, MSU451, MERGE, 16MB SCUs. Enhanced PL/I, FORTRAN, COBOL, BASIC, SORT, Graphics system, mail. |
| 09/76 | MR 4.0.1: Reconfiguration & Operator Interfaces. |
| 12/76 | MR 5.0: 4MW SCUs. Enhanced MCS, COBOL, FORTRAN, MRDS. |
| 1977 |
Honeywell-MIT collaboration ends USGS Menlo Park and Denver installed Puerto Rican Highway Authority (PRHA) installed Industrial Nucleonics installed Apple Computer founded (01/03/77) |
| 10/77 | MR 6.0: tape, ESD, salvager, RJE, WORDPRO, 7 CPUs, multiple tape controllers. Enhanced PL/I, FORTRAN, COBOL, MRDS, reliability & damage recovery. |
| 1978 |
Ford installed again INRIA/Rocquencourt installed University of Grenoble installed University of Calgary (UC) installed |
| 03/78 | MR 6.1 |
| 09/78 | MR 6.5: Video Terminals, DN6670, IBM 3780, 4 FNPs, run units, resource reservation, remote station TTFs. Enhanced communication, FORTRAN optimizer. |
| 11/78 | Palyn Report presented to Honeywell management |
| 12/78 |
MR 6.5a: remote station TTFs. Enhanced G115 protocol. Oakland University (OU) installed |
| 1979 | INRA, Renault, Bell Canada installed |
| 01/79 | Unix setuid patent issued (01/16/79) |
| 01/79 | CNO installed (01/22/79) |
| 03/79 | MR 7.0: GTSS Simulator, TP, MSU0500, Tape Archive, T&D, tape archive, audit facility, T&D subsystem, 32 new terminal types. Enhanced PL/I, FORTRAN, communications, bulk I/O. |
| 06/79 | MR 7.0a: L6 Concentrator, MTU0610 9 Track tape, Emacs, polled VIP7760. Enhanced APL. |
| 09/79 |
MR 7.0b: Enhanced FIPS COBOL, WORDPRO. Bristol & Bath (Avon) installed |
| 1980 |
Stratus formed, many Multicians leave CISL
NWGS Level 68 development system installed at US Naval War College. Dir. Prevision, EPSHOM, INSEE, IRT installed |
| 03/80 | MR 8.0: VIP7801/7804, IBM 3270, Process Preservation, MSS0500, ORION support, Bulk Store removed. Enhanced communications, Emacs, GCOS TSS, COBOL, WORDPRO, MRDS, tape interface to PPS. |
| 03/80 | NSA Site N (Flagship) installed 03/27/80. |
| 12/80 | MR 8.2: MSU0500/501. Enhanced: T&D, COBOL, PL/I, FORTRAN, BOS |
| 1981 |
VW (USA) installed in Honeywell space Arizona State University installed INSEE/Paris, CERAM, CICB, Culture, CICT, INRIA/Sophia installed |
| 08/81 | IBM PC announced (8/14/81) |
| 09/81 | St Johns installed |
| 10/81 | MR 9.0: DPS 8/70M CPUs, 8 FNPs, Executive Mail, CSU6601, MSP0611/0612, MTP0611. Enhanced BOS, COLTS/MTAR, COBOL, MRDS, WORDPRO. |
| 12/81 | Shutdown of Virginia Polytechnic Institute |
| 1982 |
DND Halifax installed (dual L68); Bull Systeme X installed at Louveciennes (L68/DPS-8); CIRIL, CNET, INRIA/Rennes, Mainz installed; VW shut down, deal canceled by VW corporate |
| 03/82 | MR 9.1: Enhanced: T&D, HASP, Emacs, FORTRAN, Tape. |
| 06/82 | STC installed |
| 07/82 | PMDC moved from Camelback |
| 10/82 | MR 10.0: 4 IOMs, IOM Paged Mode, Dial-out, X.25, Forum, MTU0630. Enhanced HDLC & BSC to 72KB, record stocks, system recovery, forum command. |
| 11/82 | Cardiff (CJCC) installed. |
| 1983 |
SNECMA, CICRP, INNPPP, Credit Lyonnais, SOZAWE, ONERA/CERT, SNECMA, ELF, LUT, Brunel installed USGS Menlo Park shut down |
| 01/83 | CNO gets 8/70M |
| 03/83 | UBCC installed |
| 04/83 | CCVR installed |
| 06/83 | Canadian DND (DDDS) installed |
| 09/83 | CISL moves from Tech Square to Cambridge Center |
| 10/83 |
MR 10.1: Printers 901/1201, X.25 LAPB, Subsystem Utilities, EURCs 8001/8002/8004. Enhanced Video, tape, mail, MRDS, FNP memory. ACTC installed |
| 1984 |
USGS Reston, Dir. Prevision, INSEE shut down DOCKMASTER installed |
| 01/84 | MR 10.2: Satellite 6M, LINUS. Enhanced operator interface, crash analysis, EURC, APL, FIPS FORTRAN, GCOS simulator, MRDS, ARPANet, X.25. |
| 02/84 | ACTC becomes additional development site (2/3/84) |
| 06/84 | Special for DND: IO reconfiguration |
| 1985 |
Almost 100 sites (Gintell ACM speech) ASU, STC, USGS Denver, INRA, Renault, ELF shut down ONERA/Paris installed DND-H upgraded to triple 8-70M |
| 02/85 | Flower canceled by Honeywell |
| 06/85 |
Multics development capped by Honeywell MR 11.0: B2 security, 32k Cache, FAMIS, Executive Forum, PC Support, Bootload Multics; 2741, 1050, and ARDS support removed. Enhanced IOM reconfiguration, disk interface, video, FORTRAN, BASIC, mail, dump analysis. |
| 08/85 | B2 Orange Book rating awarded to MR 11.0+ by NCSC (08/29/85) |
| 10/85 |
Black armbands at HLSUA Multics Company spin-off (based on Flower) proposed at HLSUA Initial study for NOS (Opus) with MOD-400 group |
| 11/85 | Spin-off dismissed by Honeywell |
| 12/85 | McDonnell Douglas Transport Aircraft installed |
| 1986 |
EPSHOM, IRT, CERAM, INRIA/Sophia, Mainz, SOZAWE, Credit Lyonnais shut down SEP installed North American Honeywell Bull integrated into Groupe Bull. |
| 01/86 | Opus (NOS/VS3) IPR-0 review at Honeywell |
| 05/86 | CISL closed (5/22/86), Opus team to Honeywell Billerica |
| 07/86 | NWGS DPS 8/70(M) installed at US Naval War College. Level 68 moved to SDF, Moorestown NJ, and got SMS workstations. |
| 12/86 |
MR 12.0: BOS eliminated, IMU, FIPS tape & disk, C compiler.
|
| 1987 |
Shutdown of SNECMA, CICT Bull Systeme X moved to Rocquencourt NWGS TTGL (Dam Neck VA) and TTGP (San Diego) sites installed. System M moved to DVCP |
| 11/87 | Bull takes over Honeywell computer division |
| 12/87 | Shutdown of CNO (12/11/87) |
| 1988 | Shutdown of INRIA/Rennes, CICB, Culture, CIRIL, CNET, INNPPP, ONERA |
| 01/88 | Shutdown of MIT Multics (MSS 38.3), eqpt to McDonnell (01/02/88) |
| 04/88 |
Development transferred to ACTC (Calgary) Opus canceled by Bull |
| 05/88 | Shutdown of AFDSC system T (05/31/88) |
| 07/88 | Shutdown of Brunel University |
| 09/88 | Shutdown of CICRP, Grenoble, Rennes |
| 11/88 |
MR 12.2: lint and make; TCP/IP support and inter-system mail.
|
| 10/88 | Shutdown of Bristol & Bath (Avon) (10/10/88) |
| 09/89 |
Shutdown of St Johns (SJU) (09/14/89) Shutdown of RADC (09/30/89) Shutdown of UBCC |
| 12/89 |
MR 12.3
|
| 1990 |
Oakland University shut down Bell Canada Toronto, CCVR, SEP shut down |
| 01/90 | Shutdown of ENWGS-SDF |
| 05/90 | Shutdown of University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL) |
| 12/90 |
MR 12.4
|
| 1991 | Shutdown of ABB (formerly Industrial Nucleonics). |
| 03/91 | Shutdown of Cardiff Joint Computing Centre (CJCC) (03/15/91) |
| 07/91 |
Shutdown of Loughborough University Shutdown of ASEA Brown Boveri |
| 1992 | Shutdown of Bull Systeme X, BCO |
| 02/92 | Shutdown of AFDSC system D (02/28/92) |
| 03/92 |
Shutdown of INRIA Shutdown of AFDSC system M (03/31/92) |
| 06/92 | Shutdown of last AFDSC machine, system Z (06/30/92) |
| 09/92 | Shutdown of Site N (Flagship). |
| 11/92 |
MR 12.5
|
| 1993 | Shutdown of Bell Canada Montreal. |
| 04/93 | alt.os.multics started by Magnus Olsson |
| 06/93 | Shutdown of U of Calgary (06/16/93) |
| 09/93 | Shutdown of DDDS/ORAE (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) (09/03/93) |
| 11/93 | Shutdown of Honeywell System M (Phoenix) (11/28/93) |
| 1994 | Multicians website begun by THVV with much help and advice from BSG. |
| 12/95 | Shutdown of McDonnell Douglas (12/22/95) |
| 04/96 | Shutdown of last NWGS system, at US Naval War College. |
| 04/97 | Shutdown of Ford (04/25/97) |
| 03/98 | Shutdown of DOCKMASTER (03/31/98) Hardware to the Computer Museum History Center. |
| 10/98 | Shutdown of GM (10/20/98) |
| 1999 | PRHA no longer used? |
| 07/00 | Shutdown of CGI (was Perigon (was ACTC)) (07/07/00) |
| 10/00 | Shutdown of DND-H (17:08Z 10/30/00) |
| 11/07 |
Open Source for Multics is hosted at MIT, courtesy of Bull HN
|
| 11/14 |
Harry Reed's Multics simulator booted Multics MR 12.5.
|
| 06/17 |
Release 1.0 of the Multics simulator available, along with Multics MR 12.6f.
|