The original SCO was a spin-off from Santa Cruz University. A number of students got interested in porting Unix to different hardware. They called themselves Santa Cruz Operations, Inc hence SCO. In those days AT&T allowed them and other schools and non-profits free access to Unix code because it wasn't really a product of Bell Labs. It started out more as an experiment to try to find a better operating system than Multics for mini-computers. Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) mainframe timesharing system was a product of Bell Labs. Unix was kind of a non-management supported development that came out of a game called "space travel" that Ken Thompson wrote for Multics. Because it cost about $75.00 every time they ran it he ported it to a PDP-7 (DEC -Digital Equipment Corporation) mini-computer. He and Dennis Ritchie realized how hard it was to run programs on PDP operating system and started working on a better method. Unix was born and the rest is history. In case you don't know Kenneth Thompson wrote the "B" language (precursor to the "C" language). He was born in New Orleans by the way and is a year younger than me.
The really interesting guy though is Dennis Ritchie.His father also worked at Bell Labs before him. He developed the "C" language. I suspect that we would all still be working with Main-frame punch cards if it wasn't for him. The "C" language more than anything else brought computing to the masses in my opinion. If you don't believe me try to write a program, any program, in assembly language. Just learning the OP codes for one piece of hardware will drive you insane. Just a little history for you. There are probably others around here that know this but some of you might not and find it interesting. Will Lowe An ancient PDP programmer. As my brother is fond of saying "older than dirt." ----- Original Message ----- From: "carson bankston" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2003 8:06 AM Subject: Re: [brlug-general] OSI answers SCO's claim. Not a quick read, but a good one. > Not a quick read at all. The most significant > thing indicated by that article is that no one in > public office has the brains to comprehend the > arguments pro or con. > > Now, here's an easy one: is it "SKO" or > "S - C - 0"? > > carson > > > --- Doug Riddle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > http://www.opensource.org/sco-vs-ibm.html > > > > ===== > > Warmest Regards, > > > > Doug Riddle > > http://www.dougriddle.com > > http://fossile-project.sourceforge.net/ > > http://www.libranet.com > > -- "Firearms are second only to the > > Constitution in importance; they are the > > Peoples' Liberty Teeth." - George Washington -- > > > > > > __________________________________ > > Do you Yahoo!? > > The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. > > http://search.yahoo.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > > General mailing list > > [email protected] > > > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > > > ===== > Network Administrator > Parkview Baptist School > (225) 291-2500 x.105 > > "With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, it is difficult to predict where they will land." - stolen and misquoted > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. > http://search.yahoo.com > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > [email protected] > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net
