Unix
<operating system> /yoo'niks/ (Or "UNIX", in the authors' words, "A weak
pun on Multics") Plural "Unices". An interactive time-sharing operating system
invented in 1969 by Ken Thompson after Bell Labs left the Multics project,
originally so he could play games on his scavenged PDP-7. Dennis Ritchie, the
inventor of C, is considered a co-author of the system.
The turning point in Unix's history came when it was reimplemented almost
entirely in C during 1972 - 1974, making it the first source-portable OS. Unix
subsequently underwent mutations and expansions at the hands of many different
people, resulting in a uniquely flexible and developer-friendly environment.
By 1991, Unix had become the most widely used multi-user general-purpose
operating system in the world. Many people consider this the most important
victory yet of hackerdom over industry opposition (but see Unix weenie and Unix
conspiracy for an opposing point of view).
Unix is now offered by many manufacturers and is the subject of an international
standardisation effort [called?]. Unix-like operating systems include AIX, A/UX,
BSD, Debian, FreeBSD, GNU, HP-UX, Linux, NetBSD, NEXTSTEP, OpenBSD, OPENSTEP,
OSF, POSIX, RISCiX, Solaris, SunOS, System V, Ultrix, USG Unix, Version 7,
Xenix.
"Unix" or "UNIX"? Both seem roughly equally popular, perhaps with a historical
bias toward the latter. "UNIX" is a registered trademark of The Open Group,
however, since it is a name and not an acronym, "Unix" has been adopted in this
dictionary except where a larger name includes it in upper case. Since the OS is
case-sensitive and exists in many different versions, it is fitting that its
name should reflect this.
The UNIX Reference Desk.
Spanish fire extinguisher.
[Jargon File]
(2001-05-14)
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