Demise of Unix

Introduction In 1969, before the times of the commonality of computers, laptops and mobile devices so many people witness today on a daily basis, a group of individuals that included Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie went rogue and began to sketch out the paper design for a file system. When American Telephone & Telegraph Company withdrew from a time sharing system collaboration project called Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) the reluctant attitude of a corporation gave birth to what Thompson saw as an emasculated version of Multics and dubbed it “Un-multiplexed Information and Computing Service or Unics. Later that morphed into what is known today and what some consider as one of the best computer operating systems called UNIX. As years pass, UNIX is a widely used and influential operating system that has spawned hundreds of descendants each touting their existence will bring the demise of the mighty UNIX. Even other operating systems such as IBM’s OS/2 Warp and Microsoft Windows tried to dethrone, and in Microsoft’s case even today, the seat that UNIX has in the world of operating systems. Compared to the best baseball player that has to be the rookies goal to topple or the most successful singer that hits the charts year after year dealing with a “one-hit wonder”, UNIX has continued to be a viable option in the market of operating systems and each year its predicted downfall does not occur to the surprise of some and the chagrin of others. This paper will discuss the various points in UNIX’s history in which it rose up against the odds to defy the critics to remain alive and practical after four decades. This paper will address the history of the UNIX operating system, the variations seen since its inception, discuss the “UNIX Wars” that divided the many vendors, the current state of UNIX and finally ending with the future state of UNIX and what is predicted to happen with UNIX in the next decade.

History of the UNIX Operating System

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