History question

Fri, 8 Mar 2002 07:33:52 -0800 (PST)

close..
I believe it was Brian Kernigahn ( of C fame ), who
didn't want to program his pdp computer with multics
for an astronomy program, so came up with unix to do
it. Mulitics is a multiuser high security OS/computer
that was rather a pain to program.

Joe
--- "Michael F. March" <march@indirect.com> wrote:
> UNIX was developed on a lark. The two inventors
> where on the
> Multics team and when AT&T pulled out of the project
> they
> recreated a lite version internally in AT&T.
> 
> > I've read that AT&T developed Unix under US
> Government grant (DARPA
> > Project) which is why they couldn't sell it.
> >
> > George
> >
> >
> > AZ Pete wrote:
> > >
> > > Go here for full history:
> > > http://www.bell-labs.com/history/unix/
> > >
> > > Here is a snippet:
> > >
> > > In 1976-77, Ken Thompson took a six-month
> sabbatical from Bell Labs to
> > > teach as a visiting professor at the Computer
> Science Department at the
> > > University of California-Berkeley (UCB). What he
> taught, of course, was
> > > the UNIX system. While there, he also developed
> much of what eventually
> > > became Version 6.
> > >
> > > The system was an instant hit, and the word
> spread quickly throughout
> > > the academic community.
> > >
> > > When Thompson returned to Bell Labs, students
> and professors at
> > > Berkeley continued to enhance UNIX. Eventually,
> many of these
> > > enhancements were incorporated into what became
> known as Berkeley
> > > Software Distribution (BSD) Version 4.2, which
> many other universities
> > > also bought.
> > >
> > > UNIX had been distributed via academic licenses,
> which were relatively
> > > inexpensive, and government and commercial
> licenses from about 1975.
> > > UCB became important in spreading the word about
> UNIX when it
> > > established a Computer Systems Research Group
> (CSRG), originally under
> > > the direction of Robert Fabry. The CSRG obtained
> a grant from DARPA to
> > > support a version of UNIX for DARPA contractors,
> which were mostly
> > > academic and military organizations, and some
> commercial firms. Ritchie
> > > recalled, "The contractors got the UNIX licenses
> from Bell Labs, but
> > > they got the BSD software from Berkeley." ...
> > >
> > > <snip>
> > >
> > > ...As UNIX spread throughout the academic world,
> businesses eventually
> > > became aware of UNIX from their newly hired
> programmers who had used it
> > > in college.
> > >
> > > Soon a new business opportunity developed --
> writing programs to run on
> > > UNIX for commercial use. What made UNIX popular
> for business
> > > applications was its timesharing, multitasking
> capability, permitting
> > > many people to use the mini- or mainframe; its
> portability across
> > > different vendor's machines; and its e-mail
> capability.
> > >
> > > In 1984, AT&T divested itself of its local Bell
> telephone companies,
> > > and also created an independent subsidiary, AT&T
> Computer Systems. The
> > > creation of the subsidiary enabled the
> communications giant to enter
> > > the computer business. The new subsidiary
> marketed a number of computer
> > > products, including the UNIX operating system.
> Its software flagship
> > > was System 5, which ran on AT&T's 3B series of
> computers.
> > > ...
> > >
> > > Hope this helps
> > > Peter
> > >
> > > --- Mark Phillips <phillips@usa.net> wrote:
> > > > I thought UNIX was first developed at UC
> Berkley, and then moved to
> > > > AT&T??
> > > >
> > > > Mark
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From:
> plug-discuss-admin@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > > >
>
[mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us]On
> Behalf Of Jim
> > > > Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 9:45 AM
> > > > To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > > > Subject: History question
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > > > Hash: SHA1
> > > >
> > > > I know that Unix was developed by AT&T in the
> early '70s.  My
> > > > question is
> > > > why
> > > > was Unix originally free?  Certainly AT&T knew
> the value of the
> > > > product that
> > > > they were creating.  Any helpful links lurking
> out there in the minds
> > > > of
> > > > PLUG
> > > > members?
> > > > - --
> > > > Jim
> > > >
> > > > Freedom is worth preserving
> > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> > > > Version: PGP 6.5.8
> > > >
> > > >
>
iQA/AwUBPIeZFSsk3ywszI1FEQIjgwCeISYOGv6y43K+aqZtSoHsStHQxOIAoJ3N
> > > > SnSvKgaNGIm06WXelSGUcXtL
> > > > =cnQf
> > > > -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
> > > >
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=== message truncated ===

=====
JT and NE Tannenbaum
jtannenba@yahoo.com

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