John Cowan wrote:

[snip]

I suspect , that if the pronounciation were be same many people would 
have noticed it before.


I am quite certain that many people have.  It was perfectly obvious to me
the first time I saw the word "Unix" written, and that was in 1976 or so.

[snip]

Yes, there was a somewhat famous "Dilbert" cartoon on this near-homophony. The text:

Boss: My boss says we need some eunuchs programmers.
Dilbert: I think he means Unix, not eunuchs. And I already know Unix.
Boss: If the company nurse drops by, tell her I said "Never mind."

But that was much later, sometime in the 1990s.... I recall hearing and making jokes on it much earlier -- Ian