Computer Shopper – September 2019

ISSUE 379|COMPUTERSHOPPER|SEPTEMBER (^2019115115)
only chanceof gainingtractionamong
businesseshad been with the backingof a
licensorsuch as Microsoft.
“There had been alegal impedimentto the
Unix system’s distribution,”hewrote.
“The system is available essentially
free-of-charge foreducationalinstitutions.
Legally,however,Western Electric[one of
Bell’s parent companies]cannot be in the
software business,so the commercialworld is
offered the operatingsystem under non-
competitiveterms: source code as is and no
warranty,support or maintenance–asteep
feefor software that was never intended to
serve commercialapplicationsoutsideof
Western Electric.It had becomeclear that
the supportof acommercialsoftware
companywas essentialif Unix was to
becomeasoftware standard.
“In August1980, Microsoftannouncedthat
it would offer and supportXenix, acommercial
versionof the operatingsystem, on 16-bit
microprocessors.WorkingcloselywithWestern
Electricand anewly formed commercialusers’
organisation,Microsoftintends to establisha
standardindustryversionof Unix that can
provide ahighly productiveenvironment
worthyof meetingthe challengesof software
developmentin the 1980s.”
The companywas as good as Greenberg’s
word. Microsofthad the resourcesto port
Xenix to awider range of processors,and to
license it to OEMs, includingIntel and IBM.
It was later adapted foruse on the Apple Lisa.
Microsoftpitted Xenix directlyagainstits own
MS-DOS,marketingit as amulti-usersystem,
where DOS was forsolo use.
The strategy worked.“Microsoftwas the
first one to go to AT&T and beg to get anice
high-volumecommerciallicence forUnix,”Bill
Gates told attendeesat 1996’s Unix Expo.
“And formany,many years we were the
highestvolumelicensee,not only forour own
Xenix productsbut Siemenswith theirs, Santa
Cruz with theirs, and dozensand dozensof
sub-licensees,”Gates added.
DescribingAT&T at the time,Gates
explained“theysimply didn’t understandwhat
theyhad... how to managethe asset, either in
terms of promotingit properlyor in terms of
makingsure that there wasn’t fragmentationin
how differentimplementationswere put
together.And so that vacuum in leadership
created abit of adilemmaforeverybodywho
was involvedin Unix.”
Of course,Microsoftwasn’t being entirely
altruistic.Its work on Xenix was abusiness
decision,which drove revenue and, ultimately,
influencedthe design of WindowsNT,which
was coded with Unix compatibilityin mind.
THE FREEALTERNATIVES
But Microsoftwasn’t the only third party
developingUnix. The Computer Systems
Research Group at the Universityof California,
Berkeley, was busy developingthe Berkeley
Software Distribution(BSD), based on Bell
Labs’ originalsource code.Itreleasedthe
results to other universitiesin 1978.
BSD gained significantpopularity,aswhile
the price of licencesto run Unix increased,
the BSD team replacedmore and more of
Bell Labs’ proprietarycode with their own
routines.It took just ayear and ahalf to
swap out all of the originalmaterial from
BSD Unix and, by 1991, acomplete, freely
distributableoperatingsystem was ready for
release.Berkeleycontinuedwork on BSD for
afurther four years.
However,its decisionto step awayfrom
active developmentin no wayspelled the end
of its free Unix variant. The open-sourcecode
was picked up by Microsoftand Apple,and its
descendantsnow form the basis of macOSand
iOS, as should be obvious to anyonewho has
booted aMac to the commandprompt.
At the same time as BSD was refining its
Unix variant, FinnishstudentLinus Torvalds
was workingon the Linux Kernel, largely as a
hobbythat would teach him more about the
workingsof the 386 architecture.While not a
versionof Unix itself,Linux does have many
Unix-like features, and it was the basis of GNU,
which was specificallydesignedto work like
Unix, withoutbeing subjectto Unix licensing.
Indeed,as is often pointed out, its name is a
recursiveacronymfor‘GNU’s Not Unix’.
UNIXTODAY
Unix and Linux continueto underpin
computingto this day. Almostthree-quarters
of all smartphonesand tablets run Linux
(in the shape of Android),accordingto
March 2019 metricsfrom StatCounter,with
afurther 23% runningthe Unix-like iOS.
Aroundtwo-thirds of all web serversrun
Linux, and less obvious implementations
includethe Fire OS used in Amazon’s Echo
speakers.Only on the desktop does
Windowsenjoyacommandinglead,
accountingfor87% of all installedoperating
systems, accordingto Net Applications.
Linux, at 2.1%, and the Unix-like macOS,at
9.92%, are significantlybehind.
With more of our daily computingneeds
satisfiedby mobile platforms and voice
assistants,Unix, its offspring and the
alternativeoperatingsystems it has inspiredgo
from strengthto strength.Unix has proved
remarkablyresilientand, half acentury from
its genesis,there’s every suggestionit will see
us throughanother50 years –maybe more.
As Bill Gates said in that 1996 address:“I
think Windowsand Unix systems can work
together very,very well. Youcan build
solutionsout of that combination.Ialso think
that people who’ve been involvedwith Unix –
in asense,theywere always right. It is systems
with that kind of power,that kind of approach,
that are going to be on the desktop and on
serversin dominantnumbers.”
RIGHT:Unix in your pocket:iOS is based on
FreeBSD code,afree and open-sourceUnix-like
OS based on the BerkleySoftware Distribution,
which itself evolved from Unix
UNI XAT50