fozzard@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Richard Fozzard) (05/11/89)
In article <7021@saturn.ucsc.edu> avalon@ssyx.ucsc.edu (Scott A. McIntyre) writes: > >Please respond via email, as he does not even know what UNIX stands for... > Well...I'd like to know what UNIX stands for.... Is it really just a pun on MULTICS? Maybe it's an acronym, like Unusually Nasty Interface Xperiment? And is it significant that its pronounciation is "eunuchs"? Or does it stand for ideals, such as Life, Liberty, The Pursuit of Happiness? It's very late and I seem to be babbling... :-) ======================================================================== Richard Fozzard University of Colorado "Serendipity empowers" fozzard@boulder.colorado.edu
bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Brian Scott Kendig) (05/11/89)
In article <8736@boulder.Colorado.EDU> fozzard@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Richard Fozzard) writes: >In article <7021@saturn.ucsc.edu> avalon@ssyx.ucsc.edu (Scott A. McIntyre) writes: >>Please respond via email, as he does not even know what UNIX stands for... >Well...I'd like to know what UNIX stands for.... And you shall. I went to the authority on this one: a little white book entitled _The UNIX Programming Environment_, by none other than Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike. A little footnote on the first page of the preface states "UNIX" is *not* an acronym, but a weak pun on MULTICS, the operating system that [Ken] Thompson and [Dennis] Ritchie worked on before UNIX. >Or does it stand for ideals, such as Life, Liberty, The Pursuit of Happiness? That goes without saying. :) << Brian Kendig >> (Disclaimer: We all know that I am not wither Kerningham nor Pike, so I didn't originally write that quote. Just thought I'd make sure you knew that.)