At 04:38 16.09.99 +0200, Henrik Olsen wrote:
>Un*x or the alternative *nix are used because Unix is a registered
>trademark, originally by AT&T I belive, for a very specific OS.
>
>Most people when talking about un*x are talking about a group of OS's
>characterised by having (more or less) the same libraries, tools, security
>model and directory structure, which means the look and feel is the same,
>but the innards can be completely different, and it's only one of them
>(modulo licensing agreements and other weirdness) that can be called Unix.
Currently I believe the UNIX trademark is administered by The Open Group,
which will allow anyone to call their system "Unix" if it passes their
(quite expensive) Unix certification test, which tests conformance to their
published specifications. (Yes, the specs are freely downloadable - surprise!)
One version of Linux has paid the bill and passed the test, so at least one
version of Linux is Unix.
Go figure....
Harald
--
Harald Tveit Alvestrand, Maxware, Norway
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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