Unix
/yoo'niks/ (Or "UNIX", in the authors' words, "A weak pun on Multics" ) Plural "Unices". An interactivetime-sharingoperating systeminvented in 1969 byKen ThompsonafterBell Labsleft theMultics project, originally so he could play games on his scavenged PDP-7.Dennis Ritchie,the inventor ofC,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 firstsource-portableOS. 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 usedmulti-user general-purpose operating system in the world. Many people consider this the most important victory yet of hackerdom over industry opposition (but seeUnix weenieandUnix conspiracyfor 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 includeAIX,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 ofThe 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 iscase-sensitiveand exists in many different versions, it is fitting that its name should reflect this. The UNIX Reference Desk. Spanish fire extinguisher. [Jargon File]Last updated:2001-05-14
Nearby terms:
University of Tasmania♦University of Twente♦Unix♦Unix box♦Unix brain damage
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