[pjmlp]

Did it?

From where I am standing, it failed in everything except headless computing, with similar input/output devices as a PDP-11.

If it isn't a server, or a some piece of software running on a smart appliance, it hardly matters how much POSIX it is exposed.

By the way, C++ is also UNIX, born and raised by AT&T in their UNIX labs, it is the main reason why all C compiler vendors adopted it in first place, including Stalmman's GCC, as you should clearly be aware.

[uecker]

You are right that you can build a lot of overly complicated crap on top of simpler systems. Android or the modern web are good examples. But in the long run it is usually not the overly complicated crap that prevails.

[pjmlp]

History shows otherwise, as proven by any usable modern C compiler is now written in C++ like GNU's compiler, so C++ is definitely better for engineering large sytems, GNU did not had a chance either than accept it and move along into modern times.

> If C++ were actually better for engineering large systems, GNU wouldn't have had a chance.

Unfortunely I won't be around to see this happen, but I bet when the UNIX/Linux/BSD founders generation is gone, other OS pushed by big corps will take its place, maybe even taken by younger devs that took the free beer source code and created their new cool startup with an OS partially taken from it, NeXTSTEP/Solaris style.

Something that is already taking shape on IoT space with all those RTOS using MIT/Apache licenses, and very little POSIX/UNIX on them.

[uecker]

There exist many C compilers written in C, while only relatively few C++ compilers even exist. And while gcc is technically written in C++, large parts still look like C.

OS pushed by big corps definitely have some impact. But this is because big corps can afford to maintain otherwise unmaintainable complex frameworks. As soon as those big corps loose interest, those complex frameworks die, and are replaced by simpler and more reasonable tech.