Remote "guest" or "tourist" access was easily available via the early ARPANET, allowing many interested parties to informally try out features of the operating system and application programs.
[4] ITS was written in assembly language, originally for the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-6 computer, but the majority of ITS development and use was on the newer, largely upwards-compatible, PDP-10.
Today, some ITS implementations continue to be remotely accessible, via emulation of PDP-10 hardware running on modern, low-cost computers supported by interested hackers.
ITS introduced many then-new features: The environment seen by ITS users was philosophically significantly different from that provided by most operating systems at the time.
[3] The wide-open ITS philosophy and collaborative community were the direct forerunner of the free and open-source software (FOSS), open-design, and Wiki movements.
Among other significant and influential software subsystems developed on ITS, the Macsyma symbolic algebra system, started in 1968, was the first widely-known mathematical computing environment.
The local spelling "TURIST" is an artifact of six-character filename (and other identifier) limitations, which is traceable to six SIXBIT encoded characters fitting into a single 36-bit PDP-10 word.
[12] The Jargon File started as a combined effort between people on the ITS machines at MIT and at Stanford University SAIL.
The device used a stepper motor and a formerly hand-held wire stripper tool and cutter, operated by solenoid, all under computer control from ITS software.