Unix

   [In the authors' words, "A weak pun on Multics"; very early on it was
   "UNICS"]  (also "UNIX") An interactive timesharing 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 multiuser general-purpose operating
   system  in the world -- and since 1996 the variant called {Linux} has
   been  at  the cutting edge of the {open source} movement. Many people
   consider  the  success  of  Unix  the  most  important victory yet of
   hackerdom  over  industry opposition (but see {Unix weenie} and {Unix
   conspiracy}  for  an opposing point of view). See {Version 7}, {BSD},
   {Linux}.

   

   Archetypal hackers ken (left) and dmr (right).

   Some  people  are  confused  over  whether this word is appropriately
   `UNIX'  or  `Unix';  both forms are common, and used interchangeably.
   Dennis  Ritchie  says that the `UNIX' spelling originally happened in
   CACM's  1974 paper The UNIX Time-Sharing System because "we had a new
   typesetter and {troff} had just been invented and we were intoxicated
   by  being  able  to  produce small caps." Later, dmr tried to get the
   spelling  changed  to  `Unix' in a couple of Bell Labs papers, on the
   grounds  that  the  word  is not acronymic. He failed, and eventually
   (his  words) "wimped out" on the issue. So, while the trademark today
   is  `UNIX',  both  capitalizations are grounded in ancient usage; the
   Jargon File uses `Unix' in deference to dmr's wishes.

[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {background}{bit bucket}{bounce}{boxen}{BSD}{C}{cat}{crlf}{CTSS}{demigod}{demon}{deserves to lose}{ed}{filter}{foreground}{grep}{holy wars}{Internet}{ITS}{ken}{MFTL}{Multics}{newline}{operating system}{replicator}{SPACEWAR}{Version 7}{VMS}{Weenix}]