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+.TL
+Preface to the Second (1995) Edition
+.PP
+Plan 9 was born in the same lab where Unix began.
+Old Unix hands will recognize the cultural heritage in this manual,
+where venerable Unix commands live on,
+described in the classic Unix style.  Underneath, though, lies
+a new kind of system, organized around communication and
+naming rather than files and processes.
+.PP
+In Plan 9, distributed computing is a central premise,
+not an evolutionary add-on.  The system relies on a
+uniform protocol to refer to and communicate
+with objects, whether they be data or processes, and whether or
+not they live on the same machine or even similar machines.
+A single paradigm (writing to named places) unifies
+all kinds of control and interprocess signaling.
+.PP
+Name spaces can be built arbitrarily.  In particular all
+programs available to a given user are customarily united
+in a single logical directory.
+Temporary files and
+untrusted activities can be confined in isolated spaces.
+When a portable machine connects to the
+central, archival file system, the machine's local
+name space is joined smoothly to that of the archival file system.
+The architecture affords other unusual abilities, including:
+.IP
+Objects in name spaces imported from other machines (even from
+foreign systems such as MS-DOS) are transparently accessible.
+.IP
+Windows appear in name spaces on a par with files and processes.
+.IP
+A historical file system allows one to navigate
+the archival file system in time as well as in space;
+backup files are always at hand.
+.IP
+A debugger can handle simultaneously active processes
+on disparate kinds of hardware.
+.PP
+The character set of Plan 9 is Unicode, which
+covers most of the world's major scripts.
+The system has its own programming languages:
+a dialect of C with simple inheritance, a simplified shell, 
+and a CSP-like concurrent language, Alef.
+An ANSI-POSIX emulator (APE) admits unreconstructed Unix code.
+.PP
+Plan 9 is the work of many people.
+The protocol was begun by Ken Thompson; naming
+was integrated by Rob Pike and networking by Dave Presotto.
+Phil Winterbottom simplified the management of name spaces
+and re-engineered the system.
+They were joined by Tom Killian, Jim McKie, and Howard Trickey in
+bringing the system up on various machines and making
+device drivers.
+Thompson made the C compiler;
+Pike, window systems;
+Tom Duff, the shell and raster graphics;
+Winterbottom, Alef;
+Trickey, Duff, and Andrew Hume, APE.
+Bob Flandrena ported a myriad of
+programs to Plan 9.
+Other contributors include
+Alan Berenbaum,
+Lorinda Cherry,
+Bill Cheswick,
+Sean Dorward,
+David Gay,
+Paul Glick,
+Eric Grosse,
+John Hobby,
+Gerard Holzmann,
+Brian Kernighan,
+Bart Locanthi,
+Doug McIlroy,
+Judy Paone,
+Sean Quinlan,
+Bob Restrick,
+Dennis Ritchie,
+Bjarne Stroustrup,
+and
+Cliff Young.
+.PP
+Plan 9 is made available as is, without formal support, but
+substantial comments or contributions may be communicated to
+the authors.
+.sp
+.in 4i
+Doug McIlroy
+.br
+March, 1995