"Writing software did not exist in any large number until the late 80s, when two major events happened - ANSI C and 80386 with an MMU."
WTF? First programming I did was in 1970/71, at school, using 2B pencils to code BASIC on cards. By around 1974 I was working in COBOL, as were a considerable number of other programmers. In fact, I'd wager that there were many more programmers back then than there are now because there were no off-the-shelf 'packages' for businesses to simply buy; most companies had to write their own systems, combining utilities, such as sort programs that were part of the OS, with their own original programs in 'batch' jobs to produce printed reports on fan-fold manuscript. This also lead to doing quite a bit of JCL/SCL to control the batch jobs.
It was quite a few years later before UNIX became viable for more than just research; the usage of C outside of research and OS development just wasn't really needed until GUIs arrived, which was around the mid 1980s.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
