
Unix Turns 50 - velmu
https://www.bell-labs.com/unix50/
======
bantunes
We need a new UNIX-like moment in OS research. BeOS had interesting ideas in
the 90s, but every single new OS now has to be "crippled" by POSIX to support
*NIX, or else it has no critical mass to grow.

I'd like to see a MIT-licensed non-POSIX OS with a capable enough POSIX
subsystem that would be eventually discarded as all software gets on board.

~~~
gitgud
Why an MIT-license? The Linux project flourished because the GPL license
forced upstream improvements right?

I'm not sure that the MIT-license would have had the same impact on an
opensource OS...

~~~
bluejekyll
I think that’s a very strong statement that Linux “flourished because of GPL”,
there are plenty examples of large successful OSS projects that use more
lenient licenses.

It would probably be more accurate to discuss the people involved, the
structure of governance of Linux, and the fact that GNU was mature enough to
be the basis for a new OS.

------
bluetomcat
Unix was ahead of its time in its inception, but that same basic design fails
to address many of the current challenges we face as software developers and
users, hence the proliferation of package managers, the mind-blowing
complexity of userland middleware, the thousands of CLI tools each with tens
of options and modes.

The simplicity of the basic Unix API means that much of the complexity is
shifted elsewhere – in libraries, in middleware, in applications. Moreover,
there is considerable overlap of functionality between many of these
components.

~~~
legulere
Even worse is the security model of Unix: Users are considered a threat and
are isolated, code is seen as trusted by the user and exploits are not
considered.

The reality today are single user systems (And even if there are users, like
for web services, the Unix user system is not used), where the code often
cannot be trusted and almost always is exploitable.

~~~
nabla9
If that's your worry, look at OpenBSD.

~~~
legulere
It's a step in the right direction, but it's not as good as it could be,
because it's hindered by compatibility with unix.

A native process on its own can't do much harm. Only with syscalls can it
access other processes, the network, hardware, files, etc. Executing some
random code shouldn't be dangerous.

------
anotherevan
“UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to
understand the simplicity.”

— Dennis Ritchie (1941–2011)

------
russellbeattie
_NOKIA_ Bell-Labs?? Apparently I missed something in the 7 years since I got
laid off from the Finnish disaster...

~~~
Nokinside
Bell-Labs is originally Bell System, then AT&T. Then AT&T spins Lucent
Technologies. Lucent merges with Alcatel. Nokia buys Alcatel-Lucent 2016.

------
tibbydudeza
There is thing to say for simplicity.

At varsity we had the misfortune to using Sperry 1100 Univac system ... all I
can remember it sure had a lot of "@" in it's JCL to get anything done.

Third year we got a NCR "Tower" Unix system ... what a joy in comparison.

------
orjan
Don't miss The Unix Game (linked halfway down on the page)!

[https://www.unixgame.io/unix50](https://www.unixgame.io/unix50)

------
MichaelMoser123
"Development started in 1969 First manual published internally in November
1971[1] Announced outside Bell Labs in October 1973"
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix)

I am confused: what would be the birthday of unix? Would that be an initial
release or the start of development?

------
pjmlp
> Unix started it all.

Not really, plenty of other OSes came before UNIX, some of them still being
sold to this day, e.g. Unysis ClearPath MCP.

~~~
jstimpfle
Question, how does it compare to Unix? It seems to be a mainframe OS.

~~~
pjmlp
First OS written in a high level programming language, without any kind of
Assembly, back in 1961.

The systems language was an Algol derivative named ESPOL, later replaced by
NEWP a bit more powerful.

Instead of requiring external Assembly support, ESPOL/NEWP have compiler
intrisics for hardware access.

One of the NEWP improvements was the introduction of UNSAFE code blocks, any
binary with unsafe code is tainted and requires being greelighted by the
administration for execution.

It was originally known as Burroughs B5000,
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burroughs_large_systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burroughs_large_systems).

Naturally Unisys uses the security and data integrity theme as the target
segment for getting a ClearPath MCP toy.

[https://www.unisys.com/offerings/clearpath-
forward/clearpath...](https://www.unisys.com/offerings/clearpath-
forward/clearpath-forward-products/clearpath-mcp-software)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xatHCXEkOsY&list=PLzXIyqnmO3...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xatHCXEkOsY&list=PLzXIyqnmO3G-NP-E1Zfa7KmVQLoQDLQ6I)

There are also Visual Studio plugins for developing remotely with ClearPath,
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHLx1Bc4lH0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHLx1Bc4lH0)

A recent version of NEWP reference manual can be found at
[https://public.support.unisys.com/aseries/docs/clearpath-
mcp...](https://public.support.unisys.com/aseries/docs/clearpath-
mcp-17.0/pdf/86002003-407.pdf)

------
packetlost
Going to plug for the SDF people and the cool
[http://unix50.org/](http://unix50.org/) project

Ever want to know what Unix v1 was like on the PDP-11?

------
sys_64738
I thought it was Jan 1st 1970? That’s what the epoch time 0 says.

~~~
fanf2
time_t originally counted jiffies (60 per second) and was reset several times
in the early 1970s before is was changed to count seconds. This makes it hard
to interpret filesystem timestamps preserved in early Unix dumps. The 1970
epoch was chosen when Unix was a few years old, as a convenient round number.

------
cycomachead
Is it really today (Oct 22)? Not that I care about the specific date, I'm just
wondering if there's a particular story as to why this date. It'd be cool to
hear if it exists.

A lot of other stories mention "summer". e.g.
[https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/08/unix-at-50-it-
starts...](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/08/unix-at-50-it-starts-with-
a-mainframe-a-gator-and-three-dedicated-researchers/)

~~~
sramsay
I feel like there should be a "UNIX Birthday observed." And the 50th would be
January 1st, 2020, natch.

------
KibbutzDalia
Another great thing from the Apollo era! It’s amazing how a well-designed API
can last.

~~~
bch
50 years ago, Unix came from the future and showed us that less is more, and a
good collection of composable tools can take you an awful long way. Along the
way it’s evolved, demonstrating its flexibility and also suffered
campaigns[0][1] by juggernauts like Microsoft demonstrating its durability. It
(Linux - Potayto potahto.) runs every single super computer in the TOPS[2]
ranking (500 entries) and has for the last 4 years.

I don’t actually know what iOS is, architecturally, but we know Android is
also Unix (Linux), so it’s everywhere, serving us pretty well.

What’s not to like? What would you suggest instead?

[0]
[https://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/06/02/ballmer_linux_is_a_...](https://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/06/02/ballmer_linux_is_a_cancer/)

[1] [https://www.cnet.com/news/scalability-day-falls-
short/](https://www.cnet.com/news/scalability-day-falls-short/)

[2]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOP500](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOP500)

~~~
loolatrix
iOS is Apple's mobile OS. Basically a Unix derivate. ;)

~~~
psv1
This is like Steve Jobs announcing that iPhone runs OS X in the very first
iPhone keynote.

~~~
tambourine_man
Which is true

