"This somewhat tortuous birth may in part explain why Research chose
to use the 4BSD virtual memory code for 8th edition."
No.
There was a short but intense debate about Reiser's vs. BSD's kernel
for our 780 in 1980 to '81, before the story you tell gets started.
I was not a central player in the decision, far from it, and there
were legitimate reasons to go either way, but I think it was mostly
due to a stronger feeling of connection with Berkeley than with
Holmdel coupled with some personality conflicts at the management
level. There were also issues around expected support, and discomfort
around the way Reiser's model made some Unix things work a little
differently.
I don't believe I ever used a computer that felt as fast, for its
time, as the Holmdel VAX running Reiser and London's kernel, and I was
definitely rooting for that to win. When BSD landed it was not in the
same league, not at all. But it had other advantages.
-rob