Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/17/84 chuqui version 1.7 9/23/84; site nsc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!gatech!nsc!chongo From: chongo@nsc.UUCP (Landon C. Noll) Newsgroups: net.unix,net.unix-wizards Subject: Re: AT&T arrogance Message-ID: <1936@nsc.UUCP> Date: Sun, 2-Dec-84 05:51:50 EST Article-I.D.: nsc.1936 Posted: Sun Dec 2 05:51:50 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 4-Dec-84 05:35:13 EST References: <> Reply-To: chongo@nsc.UUCP (Landon Curt Noll) Organization: National Semiconductor, Sunnyvale Lines: 43 Xref: gatech net.unix:2854 net.unix-wizards:7855 Summary: >I understand AT&T knows they cannot continue to survive with only >this constituency, but without it, Un*x (ed: last word modified) wouldn't > be alive in the commercial marketplace to survive. AT&T marketing seems to ignore what brought UN*X up to the level it is at now. Their marketing actions seem to be going towards stomping out any other 'non-standard' UN*X system. One wonders if down the road, some company named Carterphone will challenge their trademark of UN*X. Maybe some small firm in a last attempt to stay afloat might try to claim that AT&T has engaged in unfair business practices? But then again the AT&T legal staff might be able to delay the legal actions long enough for 'their standard' to be well established. My guess is AT&T is already well prepaired in case this happens. AT&T marketing, in my opinion does not understand what UN*X is. To me, UN*X is not a pile of code to which someone at AT&T has blessed. UN*X is not a set of source listings that generate a diff listing less than Y inches thick. UN*X is a way of doing things. UN*X is a dynamic idea. The UN*X idea was started by folks like Ritchie,Kernighan,Thompson (and others) at Bell Labs, and is even now being enhanced by thousands of others over the world. UN*X is people in net.unix-wizards asking for advice. UN*X is people posting bug fixes to net.bugs.foo. To force UN*X into a plastic wrapped package is not UN*X. To declare all future versions to be upward compatible is to condemn the users to have to eat the original design flaws. UN*X was able to evolve beyond more static commercial operating systems because people were free to improve it. This is not to say that some versions of UN*X were not a setback, but rather that having access to source code and being able to fix/improve it gave UN*X a big plus. Anyway let it be known that the above statments are my own and that this does not reflect any company stand. chongo/\gg/\ BTW: UN*X is a usenet symbol for the 'non-standard' versions of Unix Unix is a trademark of AT&T Bell Labs AT&T Bell labs are a footnote of Unix :-) -- "Don't blame me, I voted for Mondale!" John Alton 85'