IRIX 5.0 and 5.1

IRIX 5.0.x and 5.1.x are infamous in the SGI community for quality and performance issues. As a result it is Not Recommended to run these versions.

Causes of problems

"The primary cause is that we attempted far too much in too little time. Management would not cut features early, so we were forced to make massive cuts in the final weeks of the release." is the words of Tom Davis, an SGI employee who posted a memo to usenet.

• Management in 1992 and 1993 attempted to push too many features in too little time.
• Much of the desktop code was rewritten to use C++ and Viewkit, neither of which were mature.
• Tom indicated that the system requirements were too narrow for a 16MB base config of an Indy or similar.
• Compile times were increased due to this system load, resulting in less attention paid to optimizing.
• Dynamically linked libraries were introduced around this release, causing problems due to immaturity.
• Poor team structure. Tom indicates that there was nobody really calling the right shots or even listening to one another due to lack of a project lead.