UNIX
Trademark.
1.
a multiuser, multitasking computer operating system.
noun trademark
1.
a multi-user multitasking operating system found on many types of computer
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 (http://geek-girl.com/unix.html).
Spanish fire extinguisher (ftp://linux.mathematik.tu-darmstadt.de/pub/linux/people/okir/unix_flame.gif).
[Jargon File]
(2001-05-14)
Read Also:
- Unix brain damage
Something that has to be done to break a network program (typically a mailer) on a non-Unix system so that it will interoperate with Unix systems. The hack may qualify as “Unix brain damage” if the program conforms to published standards and the Unix program in question does not. Unix brain damage happens because it […]
- Unix conspiracy
[ITS] According to a conspiracy theory long popular among ITS and TOPS-20 fans, Unix’s growth is the result of a plot, hatched during the 1970s at Bell Labs, whose intent was to hobble AT&T’s competitors by making them dependent upon a system whose future evolution was to be under AT&T’s control. This would be accomplished […]
- Unixes
Trademark. 1. a multiuser, multitasking computer operating system. noun trademark 1. a multi-user multitasking operating system found on many types of computer
- Unix international
body (UI) A consortium including Sun, AT&T and others formed to promote an open environment based on Unix System V, including the Open Look windowing system.
- Unixism
operating system, jargon A piece of code or a coding technique that depends on the protected multitasking environment with relatively low process-spawn overhead that exists on virtual-memory Unix systems. Common Unixisms include: gratuitous use of “fork”; the assumption that certain undocumented but well-known features of Unix libraries such as “stdio” are supported elsewhere; reliance on […]