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 Unixconspiracy 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, Version7, 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)