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They don't say in the comic, but it seems like maybe they named it Unix as a cheeky nod to the "Multics" being too complex so a "simpler Multics" would naturall

They don't say in the comic, but it seems like maybe they named it Unix as a cheeky nod to the "Multics" being too complex so a "simpler Multics" would naturally be "Unics" Am I correct on this?

zilti 2y ago
This seems very likely, also considering that a/the main Multics dev was involved with Unix.
p_l 2y ago
The project actually started with the name UNICS, which was indeed a pun on MULTICS - after Bell Labs reduced/left involvement in Project MAC and some of the future Unix creators were part of that effort. UNICS started out on way way way less capable hardware to play with some concepts that were developed on Multics, so while there were some improvements, a lot of things are the way they are because of limitations enforced by 13 bit address space of PDP-7 and later 16bit moby style memory management on PDP-11 The move to PDP-11 was related to how some programs developed for Unix found interest among other teams at Bell Labs, and the budget for PDP-11 came from supporting secretaries working on patent documents with troff and related programs.
sourcepluck 2y ago
The original Unix people were also - allegedly - aware of the pun on "Eunuchs", and joked about calling it an emasculated or "Eunuch" version of Multics. I'd love a bit of historical information on that, but it certainly is amusing.
- p_l 2y ago
  I have encountered mentions of discussions where Unics/Unix was purposefully read as "eunuch" as joke reference of "Multics without balls", but nothing that could be attributed/verified.
  - sourcepluck 2y ago
    I chuckled at this. My fingers are firmly crossed now hoping Ken Thompson or some other legend from the good old days jumps in to englighten and maybe even regale us.
- kps 2y ago
  The pun is mentioned in the 1979 BLTJ Paper, The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing System¹. ¹ https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/hist.pdf https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/hist.pdf
holmak 2y ago
In "The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing System" by Dennis Ritchie, he writes: > Although it was not until well into 1970 that Brian Kernighan suggested the name ‘Unix,’ in a somewhat treacherous pun on ‘Multics,’ the operating system we know today was born. I like this paper for its thorough description of the very earliest versions of the operating system.
- heresie-dabord 2y ago
  > in a somewhat treacherous pun on ‘Multics’ It is both fascinating and amusing to note that significant innovation came from talented peoples' frustration with software-development complexity, bureaucracy, and paralysis. Are we any better, half a century later?

They don't say in the comic, but it seems like maybe they named it Unix as a cheeky nod to the "Multics" being too complex so a "simpler Multics" would naturally be "Unics" Am I correct on this?

zilti 2y ago

This seems very likely, also considering that a/the main Multics dev was involved with Unix.

p_l 2y ago

The project actually started with the name UNICS, which was indeed a pun on MULTICS - after Bell Labs reduced/left involvement in Project MAC and some of the future Unix creators were part of that effort. UNICS started out on way way way less capable hardware to play with some concepts that were developed on Multics, so while there were some improvements, a lot of things are the way they are because of limitations enforced by 13 bit address space of PDP-7 and later 16bit moby style memory management on PDP-11 The move to PDP-11 was related to how some programs developed for Unix found interest among other teams at Bell Labs, and the budget for PDP-11 came from supporting secretaries working on patent documents with troff and related programs.

sourcepluck 2y ago

The original Unix people were also - allegedly - aware of the pun on "Eunuchs", and joked about calling it an emasculated or "Eunuch" version of Multics. I'd love a bit of historical information on that, but it certainly is amusing.

p_l 2y ago
I have encountered mentions of discussions where Unics/Unix was purposefully read as "eunuch" as joke reference of "Multics without balls", but nothing that could be attributed/verified.
- sourcepluck 2y ago
  I chuckled at this. My fingers are firmly crossed now hoping Ken Thompson or some other legend from the good old days jumps in to englighten and maybe even regale us.
kps 2y ago
The pun is mentioned in the 1979 BLTJ Paper, The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing System¹. ¹ https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/hist.pdf https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/hist.pdf

holmak 2y ago

In "The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing System" by Dennis Ritchie, he writes: > Although it was not until well into 1970 that Brian Kernighan suggested the name ‘Unix,’ in a somewhat treacherous pun on ‘Multics,’ the operating system we know today was born. I like this paper for its thorough description of the very earliest versions of the operating system.

heresie-dabord 2y ago
> in a somewhat treacherous pun on ‘Multics’ It is both fascinating and amusing to note that significant innovation came from talented peoples' frustration with software-development complexity, bureaucracy, and paralysis. Are we any better, half a century later?