Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!crackers!cpoint!frog!rmkhome!rmk
From: rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386
Subject: Re: wanted: UNIX or clone
Message-ID: <9104031454.03@rmkhome.UUCP>
Date: 4 Apr 91 01:12:00 GMT
References: <1991Mar21.175359.15633@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> <9103232223.30@rmkhome.UUCP> <450@jgaltstl.UUCP>
Reply-To: rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly)
Organization: The Man With Ten Cats
Lines: 25

In article <450@jgaltstl.UUCP> terry@jgaltstl.UUCP (terry linhardt) writes:
>In article <9103232223.30@rmkhome.UUCP>, rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly) writes:
>
>> been running Coherent since early December, and have been very pleased.
>> 
>> I still can't believe it's not UNIX.
>> 
>> 
>Which provokes the question.........just *what* is UNIX? Is it
>SVID? Is it really a philosophy? Can someone say that AIX, for
>instance, is 'UNIX', since some would argue it is really a
>proprietary OS based upon an 'old' version of 'UNIX'. If Coherent
>is *not* UNIX, as you imply, then what is UNIX?

To be called UNIX, an os must have the blessing of AT&T.  This usually means
that the os is a port of AT&T's proprietary code to a specific platform.  If
it passes SVID, and the developer has paid AT&T a source licensing fee, it can
then be resold as UNIX.

Coherent is a UNIX clone based upon V7 with some V5 extensions.  At one point,
Mark Williams Company had to prove in court that they did not use AT&T code.
I have heard that they had to pay AT&T some money, and were told that they
could not sell their product as UNIX.

Rick Kelly	rmk@rmkhome.UUCP	frog!rmkhome!rmk	rmk@frog.UUCP