rlw (04/15/83)
UNIX was developed in disgust over what MULTICS was becoming. The rest is history.
schnable (04/15/83)
UNIX* is not an acronym. I belive its name was derived from an earlier operating system by the name of Multics. UNIX was influenced by the design of Multics; The following is taken from the Bell System Technical Journal, July-Aug. 1978, Vol. 57, No.6, Part 2, "The UNIX Time-Sharing System", by D. M. Ritchie and K. Thompson, ... On a number of points we were influenced by Multics, which suggested the particular form of the I/O system calls and both the name of the shell and its general functions. The above referenced Journal is a GOLD MINE of information. A must have for the UNIX hacker. As to why the UN in front of the IX, I do not know. Anyone out there care to fill that part in? * UNIX is a trademark of Bell Telephone Laboratories Andy Schnable IH BTL x2680 ihnp4!ihuxf!schnable
debray (04/18/83)
Considering that UNIX(*) was influenced by Multics, but tried expressly to avoid some features of Multics that its designers felt were undesirable, I'd venture a guess as to the relation between their names : UNIX designers felt that Multics was too big and complicated, hence UNI_X, as distinct from Multi_cs? ( uni- vs. multi- ?) Saumya K Debray SUNY at Stony Brook ... allegra!sbcs!debray (*) UNIX is a Bell Labs TM
ras (04/19/83)
I had thought I had heard (in a talk by one of the Creators a few years back), that UNIX was named as such because they had 'castrated MULTICS' to create it, or something to that effect...
ray (04/19/83)
"UNIX was developed in disgust over what MULTICS was becoming. The rest is history." So when does NONIX come along!
billw (04/20/83)
#R:wxlvax:-11400:sri-unix:7300009:000:58 sri-unix!billw Apr 17 18:21:00 1983 UNIX TWOIX : TENEX : TWENEX : MULTICS he he BillW
gumby (04/20/83)
Well, Multics was an operating system for a multi-cpu machine. UNIX was the similar operating system for a single-cpu machine. I guess NONIX would be the operating system for matchbox computers! (Seriously, perhaps that's what we should call those complicated routines they had during WWII for calculations which involved routing slips of paper between hundreds of people sitting at desks?) david
guidi (04/20/83)
my understanding is that "unix" is a play on the previuosly famous system called "multics" (Bell Labs, MIT, GE in the 60's). Whereas "multics" was everything to everyone all the time, "unix" was at first seen as a simple, elegant approach for individual users, not great multitudes.
bernie (04/27/83)
I assume "Unix" was originally a parody of sorts on the name "Multics"; the "mult" (many) and "uni" (one) prefixes suggest this. --Bernie Roehl ...decvax!watmath!watarts!bernie
sdo (04/28/83)
The name "UNIX" was invented by the brilliant computer scientist,
Dr. Paddy O'Furniture. The name was designed so that its meaning
would be quickly forgotten, and whole networks would have to be set
up to constantly repeat the meaning of the name. Naturally, the
network would be set up using the UNIX system. This bit of genius
has allowed the UNIX system to propagate where others have failed.
Scott Orshan
Bell Labs Piscataway
201-981-3064
{houxm,ihnp4}!u1100a!sdoarnold (04/29/83)
References: ihuxf.331 Brian Kernighan called it (the origianl pdp-7 system) Unix as a *pun* on multics. apparently since multics was big and complex (many), while unix was small and simple (one). Dennis Ritchie described the early history of unix as the guest speaker at a conference in Australia, approx 1978. I have the paper, which is where i got the above info from. if people are really interested, i'll dig it up and send to the net where it's published arnold robbins ..!allegra!gatech!arnold arnold@gatech arnold.gatech@udel-relay
mark (04/29/83)
Multics for a multi-processor machine, Unix for a uniprocessor, and here at Maryland we are working on Mobix for a mob-of-z80's processor called ZMOB. (One mob is approximately 256).
guy (04/29/83)
Multics for a multi-processor machine, Unix for a uniprocessor,
and here at Maryland we are working on Mobix for a mob-of-z80's
processor called ZMOB. (One mob is approximately 256).
A minor correction: Multics stood for "Multiplexed Information and Computing
System" (or "Service"; it's been a while since I've been near Multics).
The "Mult" didn't refer to the fact that it ran on a multi-processor system
(since it ran on an N-processor system, where N ranged from 1 up to around
6, so it needn't have been multi-processor), but, I believe, to the fact
that it was a multi-user system, with the machine resources multiplexed
between users (a $10 way of saying "time-sharing").
Guy Harris
RLG Corporation
{seismo,mcnc,we13,brl-bmd}!rlgvax!guytracy (05/02/83)
Multics: Many unnessesarily large tables in core simultaneously. Tracy Tims (decvax!hcr!hcrvax!tracy)