[pups] Interesting PDP/Xenix History

[Michael Davidson]

Fred N. van Kempen wrote:

>Paul,
>
>>If MS can release WinCE source, then they would probably do
>>the same for XENIX.... both PDP/11 and the x86 version perhaps... 
>>Its not like we want the source... just a tape image would do me :) 
>>Perhaps there is someone in MS who knows of XENIX's existance and
>>can help....  I'll have a word with a friend of mine who works
>>there :) 
>>
>Yeah, I agree.  I personally think MS would release Xenix, as it no
>longer has any commercial value whatsoever to them.  The hardest part
>might be finding people within who know about it, and who can point
>us in the right (legalese) direction.  Once MS signs off on it, the
>people at SC(O)aldera won't have a problem with releasing the tapes.
>
Microsoft probably wouldn't have any problem releasing the PDP-11 version
of XENIX - it is, after all, really just a minor V7 variant with very 
little Microsoft
code in it.

The two problems you will have are:

- finding anyone at Microsoft who knows what PDP-11 XENIX is,  and 
understands that
  it has no commercial value.

- finding either a binary or source distribution of it


XENIX for the x86 family hasn't quite reached the status of "no 
commercial value" yet.
Caldera still ships XENIX compatibility with the OpenServer operating 
system,
customers still use it, and we still pay Microsoft royalties on every 
copy of OpenServer
that we ship for that very reason.