On Tue, Oct 09, 2007 at 04:50:10PM -0500, Sean Darby wrote: > > In response to the recent "easter egg" in 4.2's song, I asked about > some possible meaning behind the "100001 1010101" bit and only ended > up more confused as a result of what one individual provided in their > replies. > > Could anybody enlighten me on proper UNIX association... here are the > messages... > I was looking for a simple and direct response - > hopeful for explanation *directly related* to that direct response - > not a history lesson. I've studied the history of UNIX and "unix-like" > branches, at least on a basic level, this is simply a question of one > specific system (OpenBSD) and proper use of terminology (aka "UNIX" > the trademark, all caps, title), not a question of generic history of > the system concept in such an over-generalized and poorly explained > fashion as what theraven provided. > > If I'm wrong in the "Unix" bit, oh well - no biggy - but still am > confused about OpenBSD = UNIX or Unix or Unix-like or unix-like or > unix or ham sandwich on rye.
You've got all the information you need to determine how _you_ will refer to OpenBSD. The commercial UNIX(tm) offerings incorporate(d) a heck of a lot of BSD code in order to do any networking. That's OK, the licence allows that (they may have since redone all the code, making UNIX(tm) a BSD-Like OS). I don't see any historical reference to the origional BSD people calling their release BSD UNIX but just the BSD. IIRC, they were contracted by DARPA to take UNIX and add networking, which they did and called it BSD. Since the lawsuite, people have taken to calling BSD UNIX. During that lawsuit, when the future of BSD was up-in-the air, Linus needed a UNIX-like OS to run on his 386. He couldn't run the BSD kernel legally and so he wrote a kernel from scratch that mimicked the functionality of UNIX/BSD but without using any contested code. If it wasn't for that lawsuit, there probably wouldn't be a Linux but he probably would have used one of the BSDs. I'll give you an analogy that isn't automobiles but isn't UNIX either. Radio Shack in Canada. Tandy is a US company that, among other things, runs consumer electronics (and gadget parts) stores in the US and licenced the name to Radio Shack Canada. They later pulled their license on some of the store-brand products, so that Realistic radios had to be named something else ASAP (they chose GeneXa or something targeted to Generation Xers). A few years later, they pulled the licence to the Radio Shack name itself, so now we have "The Source, by Circuit City". Circuit city being another comsumer electronics chain with no store-brand or CIP (Crap in Plastic; Computerized Inventory Program). But everyone calls the store Radio Shack. So is The Source = Radioshack? It is a direct decendant but it can't legally call itself Radioshack. So is OpenBSD = UNIX? It is a direct decendant but it can't legally call itself UNIX; and calling itself UNIX would be seen (IMHO) as a branding issue infringing on Trade Mark. I don't know why people care (other than residual hurt over the lawsuit). OpenBSD has a fine reputation and good name for itself on its own right. I just with that there was a lot less chest-thumping about which was the "best" OS. Each of the BSDs, each of the UNIXs, each of the Linux distributions has its strengths and weaknesses, its target market and the range of things that it can do better than the others (depending on how you define better). It would greatly help everyone if the leaders of the three BSDs, the many UNIXes, Linus, and the leaders of the major linux distros could work collaboratively on a Wikipedia page dedicated to helping people make an informed decision. However, competition (economic, resouce, prestigue, whatever) rears its ugly head. Sorry for the long reply, but your question is not simple to answer. I also don't think, despite the long reply, that it needs a definitive answer. How I answer it is this. When someone asks me about windows who I know knows nothing about computers, I say I don't know because I run Unix (there I go with the lower case). UNIX has been around forever and many non-computer people have heard of it. If the conversation continues then I clarify as to what UNIX-like OSs I use (OpenBSD and Debian GNU/Linux). If I'm asked on what I blow my nose, I'll say Kleenex. If the conversation continues (why would it), I'll ask what brand of Kleenex they use. Doug.
