[lunulata]

For the love of Zeus... it's called git, use it!

[davb]

The 3B2 computer mentioned in the story was around in the mid-1980s. Git's initial release was in 2005.

[iLoch]

Not to mention the malicious code was in the compiler, not the source code.

[vidarh]

After you invent time travel.

At the time of this story, based on the details (3B2 computers and Tymnet) RCS was likely still current and CVS likely didn't exist. There were other alternatives like SCCS, but speaking as someone who wrote code back then: It wasn't until the late 90's it started being weird to not see source control systems used even in a corporate setting. The last time I worked in settings were source control was not universally applied was as late as '99.

[plorkyeran]

As a point of reference, the Joel Test was written in 2000 and even then "Do you use source control" was something you had to actually ask.

[ddebernardy]

You'd be surprised. One of the questions I systematically ask when interviewing developers is whether they're experienced using version control systems. Not all are. The same goes for automated testing, following coding standards, or (of all things) using a bug tracker.