From: utzoo!dciem!mmt
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Title: Re: definition of misfeature
Article-I.D.: dciem.160
Posted: Fri Jan 28 14:27:22 1983
Received: Fri Jan 28 16:54:12 1983
References: houxa.153

OED- Misfeature: a distorted feature; a bad feature or trait.

In designing and debugging the time-sharing system for the PDP-9T,
we used ``bug'' for the things that caused problems because of coding
errors and the like. These could be fixed if found. The word for
problem-causing things embedded in the design was ``beast''. We still
use the term. For example, DEC's RSX operating system is an attempt to
program around a basic beast, whereas many of the problems in UNIX are bugs.

		Martin Taylor