UNIX
n : trademark for a powerful operating system [syn: {UNIX system},
{UNIX operating system}]
Source: WordNet® 2.0
Unix /yoo'niks/ n. [In the authors' words, "A weak pun on Multics";
very early on it was `UNICS'] (also `UNIX') An interactive time-sharing
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}.
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.
Source: The Jargon File
