Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mira.net.au!news.vbc.net!vbcnet-west!garlic.com!news.scruz.net!noos.hooked.net!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.comet.net!news.sprintlink.net!news-dc-2.sprintlink.net!saims.skidmore.edu!cdoherty From: cdoherty@saims.skidmore.edu (Chris) Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc,alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: On the Naming of UNIX Things Followup-To: comp.unix.misc,comp.society.folklore,alt.folklore.computers Date: 11 Nov 1996 23:18:31 GMT Organization: Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs NY 12866 Lines: 28 Message-ID: <568c87$b9h@saims.skidmore.edu> References: <55vhpf$q3o@mail1.wg.waii.com> <328386bc.112278367@news.ov.com> <562i2k$f3a@kirin.wwa.com> <E0prA2.8H7@ranger.daytonoh.ncr.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: wopr.skidmore.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.misc:26289 comp.unix.bsd.misc:1468 alt.folklore.computers:124427 Mike Czaplinski (mike.czaplinski@washingtondc.ncr.com) wrote: : I heard of an alternate origin for the term 'Unix' from a cow orker : who was around Bell Labs in the mid 70's: : UNiversal Information eXchange. taken (also without permission) from _Unix System V Release 4: An Introduction_, by Kenneth Rosen, Richard Rosinski, and James Farber: p. 12: "...the late 1960s when MIT, AT&T Bell Labs, and...General Electric worked on an experimental operating system called MULTICS. MULTICS, for MULTiplexed Information and Computing System..." [describes Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie rewriting Space Travel for the DEC PDP-7, followed by an OS with file system and command interpreter] "Since the new multi-tasking operating system for the PDP-7 could support two simultaneous users, it was humorously called UNICS for the UNiplexed Information and Computing System; the first use of this name is attributed to Brian Kernighan. The name was changed slightly to UNIX in 1970, and that has stuck ever since." given that these guys have written an "introduction" that is roughly 1200 pages long, I'll go with their story... cheers, chris