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From: mike@turing.UUCP
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (Last changed: 31 May 1987)
Message-ID: <560@unmvax.UNM.EDU>
Date: Tue, 16-Jun-87 16:36:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: unmvax.560
Posted: Tue Jun 16 16:36:34 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 18-Jun-87 03:38:29 EDT
References: <15765@gatech.gatech.edu>
Sender: news@unmvax.UNM.EDU
Reply-To: mike@turing.UUCP (Michael I. Bushnell)
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Lines: 38

In article <15765@gatech.gatech.edu> usenet@gatech.edu writes:
>Original-from: jerry@eagle.UUCP (Jerry Schwarz)
>[Most recent change: 31 May 1987 by spaf@gatech.edu & weemba@brahms.berkeley.edu]
>
> 1.  What does UNIX stand for?
>
>     It is not an acronym, but is a pun on "MULTICS".  MULTICS is a
>     large operating system that was being developed shortly before
>     UNIX was created.
>

I, for the first time, saw this post on news.announce.newusers.  Unfortunately,
it is false.  Gleaned from the MINIX manual and text (1) I quote

"...MULTICS (MULTIplexed Information and Computing Service)...."

And then, in reference to UNIX,

"...Brian Kernighan somewhat jokingly dubbed this system "UNICS" (UNiplexed
Information and Computing Service), but the spelling was later changed to
UNIX (2)."


So it appears that, though "UNIX" is a pun, it is also an acronym.  I DO hope
that the net.gods, in their infinite (cough, cough) wisdom :-) will see fit
to fix this slight oversight.

(1) Tanenbaum, Andrew S.  _Operating_Systems__Design_and_Implementation.

(2) UNIX is a trademark of AT&T.


					Michael I. Bushnell
					a/k/a Bach II
					mike@turing.UNM.EDU
---
Is it clean in other dimensions?
				-- Zippy the Pinhead