Unix once featured possibly the greatest—and creepiest—Easter egg of all time. In some early AT&T Unix versions, typing the username “dmr” (Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie’s initials) at login triggered the message: “Dennis Ritchie has retired, please use another login.” Even years after his death, this hidden joke occasionally resurfaced, prompting new admins into panicked midnight Google sessions. Call it Ritchie’s mischievous sense of humor reaching beyond the grave—or perhaps Unix’s quirky personality revealing itself. Either way, sysadmins everywhere learned an important lesson: Unix geeks love nothing better than trolling the unsuspecting.
