0.99.14 was in C++. It was the *only* version that was C++ -- it
was a disaster, with the compiler being too buggy to use.
No, it was a disaster because Linus found out that the compiler
outputs code you don't even write. This is the only reason that the
kernel is not compiled using g++ anymore, Linus wanted to keep it for the
more complete type checking but we have found how to get most of that
protection using plain old gcc...