[KLUG Members] Microsoft and Unix?

[Bryan-TheBS-Smith]

Alan DeJong wrote:
> I was at my work (a rental store) trying to see why our computer network
> 
> At work we use an OS called SCO XENIX Sys V.  (SCO stands for Santa Cruz
> Operation).  This os is pretty much text based w/ a few modifications
> (made by Solutions by Computer INC out of Mass.)  Well anyway during the
> startup screen a message flashes by pretty quick, and I thought it said
> something about microsoft.. So i restarted and paused the screen and I
> was surprised to see that the it was made by... Microsoft.  I just
> thought it pretty funny, microsoft making a Unix like OS.  Maybe someone
> who knows more about it can shed some light on the subject.

SCO was founded in 1979 and partially funded by Microsoft.  It's goal
was to create a commercial AT&T-like UNIX for 16-bit PCs (whereas most
UNIX systems were 32-bit).  XENIX was born.

IMHO, SCO is the "Windows" of UNIX.  It requires reboots for simple
reconfiguration.  The only reason it got marketshare was because it was
really the only UNIX available for Intel for a long time.  Especially
given the previous marketshare of XENIX back when Intel didn't have an
MMU (not until the i386).

-- TheBS

-- 
Bryan "TheBS" Smith    mailto:b.j.smith@ieee.org   chat:thebs413
Engineer  AbsoluteValue Systems, Inc.  http://www.linux-wlan.org
President    SmithConcepts, Inc.    http://www.SmithConcepts.com
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