[TUHS] The Case of UNIX vs. The UNIX System

[Ken Thompson]

the bell labs legal vacillated between
1company private,
2 intellectual property
3 trademark.
1 is a secret, 2 is noun and 3 is an adjective.
each change came with replacing a thousand
notices in the code.


On Fri, Feb 14, 2025 at 12:57 PM Rik Farrow <rik at rikfarrow.com> wrote:

> You've got that right, although I learned that from a different
> perspective. A Unix magazine I contracted for was contacted more than once
> by AT&T legal saying "Unix" is an adjective, not a noun. I didn't know
> about the connection with copyright.
>
> Rik
>
>
> On Fri, Feb 14, 2025 at 1:40 PM Brantley Coile <brantley at coraid.com>
> wrote:
>
>> UNIX is a trademark and as such, it's an adjective and needs a noun to go
>> with it. Unix operating system is okay. Unix system is more descriptive.
>> It's a intellectual property thing.
>>
>> Brantley
>>
>> > On Feb 14, 2025, at 3:36 PM, segaloco via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
>> >
>> > So in most technical circles and indeed in the research communities
>> surrounding
>> > UNIX, the name of the system was just that, UNIX, prefixed often with
>> some
>> > descriptor of which stream, be it Research, USG, BSD/Berkeley, but in
>> any case
>> > the name UNIX itself was descriptive of the operating system for many
>> of its
>> > acolytes and disciples.
>> >
>> > However, in AT&T literature and media, addition of "System" to the end
>> of the
>> > formal name seemed to become de facto if not de jure.  This can be seen
>> for
>> > instance in manual edits in the early 80s with references to just
>> "UNIX" being
>> > replaced with variations on "The UNIX System", sometimes haphazardly as
>> if done
>> > via a search and replace with little review.  This too is evident in
>> some
>> > informative films published by AT&T, available on YouTube today as
>> > "The UNIX Operating System" and "UNIX: Making Computers Easier to
>> Use"[1][2].
>> > Discrepancies in the titles of the videos notwithstanding, throughout
>> it seems
>> > there are several instances where audio of an interviewee saying
>> > "The UNIX System" were edited over what I presume were instances of
>> them simply
>> > saying UNIX.
>> >
>> > I'm curious if anyone has the scoop on whether this was an attempt to
>> echo the
>> > "One Bell System" and related terminology, marketing tag lines like
>> > "The System is the Solution", and/or the naming of the revisions
>> themselves as
>> > "System <xyz>".  On the other hand, could it have simply been for
>> clarity, with
>> > the uninitiated not being able to glean from the product name anything
>> about it,
>> > making the case for adding "System" in formal descriptions to give them
>> a little
>> > bit of a hint.
>> >
>> > Bell Labs folks especially, was there ever some grand thou shalt call it
>> > "The UNIX System" in all PR directive or was it just something that
>> organically
>> > happened over time as bureaucratic powers at be got their hands on a
>> part of the
>> > steering wheel?
>> >
>> > - Matt G.
>> >
>> > [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc4ROCJYbm0
>> > [2] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvDZLjaCJuw
>>
>>
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