operating system /yoo'niks/ (Or "UNIX", in the authors'
words, "A weak pun on Multics") Plural "Unices". An
project, originally so he could play games on his scavenged
a co-author of the system.
The turning point in Unix's history came when it was
reimplemented almost entirely in C during 1972 - 1974, making
underwent mutations and expansions at the hands of many
different people, resulting in a uniquely flexible and
By 1991, Unix had become the most widely used
multi-usergeneral-purpose operating system in the world. Many people
consider this the most important victory yet of hackerdom over
Unix is now offered by many manufacturers and is the subject
of an international standardisation effort [called?].
Unix-like operating systems include
AIX,
A/UX,
BSD,
"Unix" or "UNIX"? Both seem roughly equally popular, perhaps
with a historical bias toward the latter. "UNIX" is a
a name and not an acronym, "Unix" has been adopted in this
dictionary except where a larger name includes it in upper
different versions, it is fitting that its name should reflect
this.
(2001-05-14)
