Return to BSD News archive
Xref: sserve comp.unix.bsd:12203 comp.bugs.4bsd:1982
Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!olivea!grapevine.lcs.mit.edu!ai-lab!life.ai.mit.edu!mib
From: mib@geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Michael I Bushnell)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd,comp.bugs.4bsd
Subject: Re: 4.4BSD Release
Date: 06 Jul 1993 23:42:30 GMT
Organization: FOO
Lines: 33
Message-ID: <MIB.93Jul6194230@geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu>
References: <20qdsj$6rt@agate.berkeley.edu> <20vmq1INNf3g@CS.UTK.EDU>
<ROB.93Jul1161349@gangrene.berkeley.edu> <C9IGKz.13z@kithrup.com>
<ROB.93Jul1201153@gangrene.berkeley.edu>
<JGREELY.93Jul6170732@morganucodon.cis.ohio-state.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu
In-reply-to: jgreely@morganucodon.cis.ohio-state.edu's message of 6 Jul 1993 17:07:39 -0400
In article <JGREELY.93Jul6170732@morganucodon.cis.ohio-state.edu> jgreely@morganucodon.cis.ohio-state.edu (J Greely) writes:
In article <ROB.93Jul1201153@gangrene.berkeley.edu> rob@agate.berkeley.edu
(Rob Robertson) writes:
>you can face getting sued by USL by saying `unix' the wrong way.
Funny that they're rather selective about this. Every bookstore I've
been in that has much in the way of computer books has a "Unix" (no
trademark) section, in which they file books on SCO, Xenix, Solaris,
NextStep, etc. Why, you might even find a copy of "The UNIX
Programming Environment", which has no external (R) or TM decorations,
on front, back, or spine. Of all the Unix books on my shelf, the only
one that doesn't have an (R) on it came from Bell Labs. Go figure.
As a consumer, I've certainly been lead to believe that "Unix" is a
generic term for a class of operating systems sharing certain
features...
Wellp, you're wrong in this case. All of those things: SCO, Xenix,
Solaris, NextStep, BSD 4.3, etc., are in fact Unix. They all use the
AT&T code, and all have the right to call themselves Unix. Some other
thing (GNU, for example, or Linux, or 386 BSD) which don't include the
AT&T Unix code, nor are derived from it, cannot call themselves Unix.
One of the things that started the USL v. BSDI lawsuit was BSDI's
foolish use of the phone number `1-800-ITS-UNIX'; this was incorrect
and pretty clearly trademark infringement.
--
+1 617 623 3248 (H) | The LORD is gracious and full of compassion,
+1 617 253 8568 (W) -+- slow to anger and of great kindness.
1105 Broadway | The LORD is loving to everyone
Somerville, MA 02144 | and his compassion is over all his works.