Picric acid converted it to acetylsalicylic acid, i.e., aspirin, to keep it from the Allies. See Great Phenol Plot. At the time, phenol was obtained from coal as a co-product of coke ovens and the manufacture of gas for gas lighting. Laclede Gas reports being asked to expand production of phenol (and toluene) to support the war effort. Both Monsanto and Dow Chemical undertook manufacture of synthetic phenol in 1915. Dow was the leading producer. Dow describes picric acid as “the main battlefield explosive used by the French. Large amounts [of phenol] also went to Japan, where it was made into picric
Worse is better Rise of Worse is Better", Gabriel claimed that "Worse-is-Better" is a model of software design and implementation which has the following characteristics (in approximately descending order of importance): Gabriel argued that early Unix and C, developed by Bell Labs, are examples of this design approach. Gabriel contrasted his philosophy with what he called the "MIT/Stanford style of design" or "MIT approach" (also known as "the Right Thing"), which he described as follows. Contrasts are in bold: Gabriel argued that "Worse is better" produced more "successful" software than the MIT approach: As long as the initial program is basically good, it