Evolution of UNIX - Emily Steinhaus

By emilysteinhaus
  • AT&T withdraws development of multics

    AT&T withdraws development of multics

    "AT&T-owned Bell Laboratories withdraws from development of Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service)" (Anthes)
  • Ken Thompson and Bell Labs wrote language

    Ken Thompson and Bell Labs wrote language

    "Ken Thompson at Bell Labs writes the first version of an as-yet-unnamed operating system, in assembly language for a DEC PDP-7 minicomputer." (Anthes)
  • UNIX was named

    UNIX was named

    "Thompson's operating system is named Unics, for Uniplexed Information and Computing Service and a pun on "emasculated Multics." (Anthes)

  • "The Pipe" Created

    "Unix matures. The "pipe," a mechanism for sharing information between two programs, which will influence operating systems for decades, is added to Unix. Unix is rewritten from assembler into C." (Anthes)

  • Berkeley receives a copy of Unix.

    "The University of California Berkeley receives a copy of UNIX" (Anthes)
  • UUCP Created

    UUCP Created

    "Bell Labs programmer Mike Lesk develops UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy Program) for network transfer of files, e-mail and Usenet content." (Anthes)
  • Bill Joy 1BSD

    Bill Joy 1BSD

    "Bill Joy, a graduate student at Berkeley, sends out copies of the first Berkeley Software Distribution (1BSD), essentially Bell Labs' Unix V6 with some add-ons. BSD becomes a rival Unix branch to AT&T's Unix; its variants and eventual descendents include FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, DEC Ultrix, SunOS, NeXTstep/OpenStep and Mac OS X." (Anthes)
  • Xenix

    Xenix

    "Microsoft introduces Xenix. 32V and 4BSD introduced." ("History and Timeline")
  • Joy Co-Founds Sun Microsystems

    Joy Co-Founds Sun Microsystems

    Bill Joy co-founds Sun Microsystems to produce the Unix-based Sun workstation.

  • System V Released

    "AT&T releases the first version of the influential Unix System V, which will become the basis for IBM's AIX and Hewlett Packard's HP-UX." (Anthes)

  • Mach Created

    "Rick Rashid and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University create the first version of Mach, a replacement kernel for BSD Unix intended to create an operating system with good portability, strong security and use in multiprocessor applications." (Anthes)

  • Plan to unify UNIX Branches

    "AT&T Bell Labs and Sun Microsystems announce plans to co-develop a system that would unify the two major Unix branches." (Anthes)

  • SVR4

    "UNIX System V Release 4 ships, unifying System V, BSD and Xenix. Installed base 1.2 million." ("History and Timeline")

  • 30th Anniversary of UNIX

    "The UNIX system reaches its 30th anniversary. Linux 2.2 kernel released. The Open Group and the IEEE commence joint development of a revision to POSIX and the Single UNIX Specification. First LinuxWorld conferences. Dot com fever on the stock markets. Tru64 UNIX ships." ("History and Timeline")
  • Latest version of UNIX Published

    Latest version of UNIX Published

    "Latest revision of the UNIX API set formally standardized at ISO/IEC, IEEE and The Open Group. Adds further APIs" ("History and Timeline")

  • WORKS CITED

    Anthes, Gary. “Timeline: 40 Years of Unix.” Computerworld, Computerworld, 4 June 2009, www.computerworld.com/article/2524555/operating-systems/operating-systems-timeline-40-years-of-unix.html. “History and Timeline.” The UNIX System -- History and Timeline -- UNIX History, www.unix.org/what_is_unix/history_timeline.html.