AT&T Archives: The UNIX Operating System

[nicholas]

In the late 1960s, Bell Laboratories computer scientists Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson started work on a project that was inspired by an operating system called Multics, a joint project of MIT, GE, and Bell Labs. The host and narrator of this film, Victor Vyssotsky, also had worked on the Multics project. Ritchie and Thompson, recognizing some of the problems with the Multics OS, set out to create a more useful, flexible, and portable system for programmers to work with.

What's fascinating about the growth of UNIX is the long amount of time that it was given to develop, almost organically, and based on the needs of the users and programmers. The first installation of the program was done as late as 1972 (on a NY Telephone branch computer). It was in conjunction with the refinement of the C programming language, principally designed by Dennis Ritchie.

Because the Bell System had limitations placed by the government that prevented them from selling software, UNIX was made available under license to universities and the government. This helped further its development, as well as making it a more "open" system.

This film "The UNIX System: Making Computers More Productive", is one of two that Bell Labs made in 1982 about UNIX's significance, impact and usability. Even 10 years after its first installation, it's still an introduction to the system. The other film, "The UNIX System: Making Computers Easier to Use", is roughly the same, only a little shorter. The former film was geared towards software developers and computer science students, the latter towards programmers specifically.

The film contains interviews with primary developers Ritchie, Thompson, Brian Kernighan, and many others.

While widespread use of UNIX has waned, most modern operating systems have at least a conceptual foundation in UNIX.

[youtube]tc4ROCJYbm0[/youtube]

http://youtube.com/#/watch?v=tc4ROCJYbm0&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%253Fv%253Dtc4ROCJYbm0

[Iggy]

Yep, since AT&T and Bell Labs were a legal monopoly under strict federal supervision Unix probably should be a public domain commodity.
After all, a great deal of development was done at publicly funded higher education institutions.
Still pisses me off thinking about how SCO tried to use legal intimidation tactics to strip mine funds from the rights to this intellectual property.

[nicholas]

Especially when it turned out that Novell owned the rights that SCO were claiming to own.

I agree that UNIX should be owned by the US taxpayer though.  I hate it when privately owned companies get taxpayer's money for free, they should stand or fall according to market principles.

Tax money should only be used to nationalise failed companies if at all.

[Pentad]

I could not agree more.  I remember a lecture from my CS Prof talking about the history of UNIX and the amount of money the tax payers and put into it.  It should be Public Domain!


-P

[persia]

While widespread use of UNIX has waned

Unix is everywhere, it has a stranglehold on Mobile Phones and tablets, Unix may have won the post pc era.

[nicholas]

Unix is everywhere, it has a stranglehold on Mobile Phones and tablets, Unix may have won the post pc era.

Yeah, I just pasted the blurb from the video.

The only mainstream non-unixoid still in major use is windows and that's rapidly becoming irrelevant especially in the mobile space.

[nicholas]

I could not agree more.  I remember a lecture from my CS Prof talking about the history of UNIX and the amount of money the tax payers and put into it.  It should be Public Domain!


-P

Perhaps a petition should be started on whitehouse.gov?  I'd sign it if wasn't a Limey.

[Iggy]

Perhaps a petition should be started on whitehouse.gov?  I'd sign it if wasn't a Limey.

That is one of the great things (that remain) about the US, even 'Limeys' are allowed to express their opinions.
Thanks for bringing this up Nik.

Unix and the Internet - two things I watched develop during my High School and early college years via contact with local schools.

Yep, we pretty much paid for it, and now don't own it.
Frustrating.

[Fats]

Yep, since AT&T and Bell Labs were a legal monopoly under strict federal supervision Unix probably should be a public domain commodity.

Although that the BSD's are not public domain they have a quite permissive license...

[Madshib]

Whether anyone likes it or not, UNIX is the beginning of all the commonly used OSes out there. It has great elements in which others would eventually "borrow".

[commodorejohn]

Whether anyone likes it or not, UNIX is the beginning of all the commonly used OSes out there. It has great elements in which others would eventually "borrow".

"All?" No. Windows NT derivatives are based on VMS, not Unix; in the pre-NT days, DOS was based on CP/M which was loosely based on RT-11. Unix doesn't really show up anywhere in the Windows family tree, aside from the POSIX subsystem added to NT versions pre-XP.

[Madshib]

"All?" No. Windows NT derivatives are based on VMS, not Unix; in the pre-NT days, DOS was based on CP/M which was loosely based on RT-11. Unix doesn't really show up anywhere in the Windows family tree, aside from the POSIX subsystem added to NT versions pre-XP.

Thanks for setting me straight. Windows is crap all on it's own

[mrknight]

I used Solaris on a previous job. Ii I remember correctly I had a Sunblade 1500. Really cool machines! And good looking too

I was so happy when I learned about the OpenSolaris project. This project was being promoted by Sun. The OS had some really nice features like Dtrace and the ZFS file system with a "time machine" so you can take snapshop of files and such.

So what happened to this obvious superior OS with a bright future? Oracle happened... After Oracle bought Sun nothing happened with OpenSolaris. It was quiet. And then Oracle decided to pull the plug. OpenSolaris died. I'm still not over this...

[nicholas]

I used Solaris on a previous job. Ii I remember correctly I had a Sunblade 1500. Really cool machines! And good looking too

I was so happy when I learned about the OpenSolaris project. This project was being promoted by Sun. The OS had some really nice features like Dtrace and the ZFS file system with a "time machine" so you can take snapshop of files and such.

So what happened to this obvious superior OS with a bright future? Oracle happened... After Oracle bought Sun nothing happened with OpenSolaris. It was quiet. And then Oracle decided to pull the plug. OpenSolaris died. I'm still not over this...

http://openindiana.org

[persia]

It it just me or does the ad bot attach the words "the plug" to an eBay listing for a "vibrating butt plug?"

I used Solaris on a previous job. Ii I remember correctly I had a Sunblade 1500. Really cool machines! And good looking too

I was so happy when I learned about the OpenSolaris project. This project was being promoted by Sun. The OS had some really nice features like Dtrace and the ZFS file system with a "time machine" so you can take snapshop of files and such.

So what happened to this obvious superior OS with a bright future? Oracle happened... After Oracle bought Sun nothing happened with OpenSolaris. It was quiet. And then Oracle decided to pull the plug. OpenSolaris died. I'm still not over this...