[TUHS] advent of "modern" Unix OS

[Andrew Lynch via TUHS]

HiI've been watching the conversation on the various Unix and Unix-like operating systems and began to wonder.  Is there such thing as an era of "modern" Unix OS?  
There seems to me a vast difference between the early Unix variants and what came later suggesting that at some point a "modern" era began.
If so, what constitutes a modern Unix?  When did it begin?
I'd propose the modern era began with Unix or variants for 32-bit architectures *with* hardware memory protection (MMU) and "large" RAM (16MB?).  I'd further say machines of the class became common place somewhere in the 1988 to 1990 time frame.  Possibly some examples before then like VAX or other mini-computers or high end workstations like HP, Sun, or Apollo.
I'd say the difference is the advent of full 32-bit architectures with MMU like 68020 with its PMMU vs. 68000/68010 or 80386 vs. 80286.  Yes, you could push earlier architectures with special hardware but at some point there was a "quantum leap" into a new era of hardware that carried Unix and variants forward.
Examples of what I'd consider modern Unix or variants would be AT&T System V, 386BSD & later *BSDs, Linux/GNU, etc.
So is the concept of a modern era of Unix vs. prior Unix technologies real or an illusion?




Merovingian: Choice is an illusion created between those with power and those without.