The Unix Society

[David C. Jenner]

I think he has a point here:

  Restrict it to whatever the Ancient Unix license from SCO
  (and any equivalent licenses yet to emerge) covers.  In fact,
  an objective could be to try to ADD more systems from vendors
  (like Venix, even Xenix) who required the AT&T license.

If this is the case, the "Preservation" part of PUPS is OK, since
what we are trying to do is preserve the use of this strain of
system software.

As to the first P, if not PDP(-11), then what it should refer to
is the original strain of Unix--the Primordial Unix.  Hence:

Primordial Unix Preservation Society.

(I really don't want to change my "pups" email alias!)

Dave

Michael Sokolov wrote:
> 
>    Warren Toomey <wkt at henry.cs.adfa.oz.au> wrote:
> > While I disagree with Michael's idea of total world domination by Vaxen
> > :-), I believe such a society will be composed of a multitude of
> > different beliefs, ideas, sub-goals and drives. So please bear this in
> > mind when mailing to the mailing list!!!
> 
>    Oh, I'm not saying that VAXen should dominate the mailing list or the
> society, I'm simply saying that my project is to turn them from
> "retrocomputing" into a fully competitive UNIX platform.
> 
> > My main sub-goal is to provide a home for the PDP-11 stuff. I don't yet
> > have the disk space for all the other Unix platforms.
> 
>    Keep in mind, though, that the UNIX(R) mainstream is PDP-11 _AND_ VAX.
> 
> > Hmm. Looks like we need a larger umbrella group which caters for the
> > preservation, use and development of all Unix varieties past and present.
> > I nominate the name   The Unix Society
> 
>    and
> 
> > Comments on the suggestion of `The Unix Society' as a name? I'm avoiding
> > using UNIX as it's a trademark, and it's an adjective.
> 
>    I personally think it's a very bad idea to extend the society to cover
> freebies. Let's keep it limited to software that requires an SCO or
> equivalent license. Why? Because otherwise it loses its identity. You can't
> cover all UNIX and "Unix" in the world. Huge organizations like USENIX
> already exist for this purpose. I believe the purpose of the society should
> be to provide a home for the homeless. Here is what I mean by that. People
> using "free Unices" already have scores of mailing lists and newsgroups
> available to them. The only ones who are always left out are the poor
> patriots of True Licensed UNIX(R). So far PUPS has been the only possible
> home for them.
> 
>    Why not have a Proper UNIX(R) Patriot Society which will do the same
> thing PUPS does now (provide a central clearinghouse for all licensed
> UNIX(R), keep the central database of SCO license holders, discuss
> licensing issues), but without restricting it to PDP-11s or to mere
> preservation? I don't think we need a huge society with chapters and
> subchapters to cover every possible use of every possible OS. People who
> want to use a particular OS in a particular way should have their own
> mailing lists to discuss really specific issues like hardware, etc. That's
> what I will do for 4.3BSD-Quasijarus when it actually sees the light of
> day. (For now it has a closed consortium. My experience has been that in
> such early stages of development keeping discussions on a public list leads
> to nothing except accusations of "vaporware" and flame wars.) PUPS should
> be a central clearinghouse for licensed UNIX(R), nothing more. Its scope
> should be exactly equal to the scope of the SCO license.
> 
>    Just my two bits.
> 
>    Sincerely,
>    Michael Sokolov
>    Phone: 216-368-6888 (Office) 440-449-0299 (Home) 216-217-2579 (Cellular)
>    ARPA Internet SMTP mail: msokolov at blackwidow.CWRU.Edu

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