Unix Information and Resources

Overview of Unix Operating System

Unix is a computer Operating System (or OS) used most commonly in servers and workstations. Unix was originally released by Bell Labs to various government and educational institutions. This popularity led to the adaptation of Unix by many start up companies; as a result, Unix helped fuel the growth of the internet in the 1990s.

History of Unix

Unix was originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs. Today, Unix systems are split into different branches which have developed over time by AT&T and by commercial vendors and non-profit organizations. Many variations (usually called “flavors”) of Unix and Unix-like Operating Systems were released during the dot com boom of the 1990’s. The dot com bust caused many of these to consolidate. As a result, of the dozens of commercial variations of Unix that were developed in the 1980s, only Solaris, HP-UX, and AIX are still doing relatively well in the market. Of these, Solaris currently holds the highest market share.

A system is termed UNIX only if it complies fully with (and is certified by) the Single Unix Specification (SUS) standards. Similar systems that do not comply fully or are not certified are termed “Unix-like” operating systems. Examples of popular Unix-like systems include Linux and Xenix.

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