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
> > >
> > >
> > > > > > 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
> > > > > > ________________________________________________
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