Microcomputer operating systems panel: UNIX

Are multi-user microcomputer systems a good idea? They tend to be reinventions of the timesharing mainframe mistakes of the 60's and 70's. Why not give each user a real micro? This argument leads one either to multiprocessor systems, or to networking. But UNIX is an interesting system, since it's inherently multi-programmed, and because multi-programming if done correctly makes your system inherently multi-user. This is a case of the principle that if you make things general, you often get unexpected benefits. UNIX also inherently facilitates sharing of files and other resources. Other systems tend to make communal sharing difficult. UNIX evolved to serve a small community of cooperating users, hence a “supermicro” UNIX for a small department should work well (and does). UNIX has also, of course, been used in much larger (and less cooperative!) environments with considerable success (but not without some system maintenance).