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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nntp.coast.net!howland.erols.net!news.mathworks.com!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!warwick!lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk!dex.trin.cam.ac.uk From: fanf2@cam.ac.uk (Tony Finch) Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc,alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: On the Naming of UNIX Things Date: 12 Nov 1996 00:16:30 -0000 Organization: Coll: SS. et Indiv: Trin: Cant: Lines: 17 Message-ID: <568fku$8ff@dex.trin.cam.ac.uk> References: <55vhpf$q3o@mail1.wg.waii.com> <328386bc.112278367@news.ov.com> <562i2k$f3a@kirin.wwa.com> <E0prA2.8H7@ranger.daytonoh.ncr.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: dex.trin.cam.ac.uk Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.misc:26288 comp.unix.bsd.misc:1467 alt.folklore.computers:124424 Mike Czaplinski <mike.czaplinski@washingtondc.ncr.com> wrote: > > I heard of an alternate origin for the term 'Unix' from a cow orker > who was around Bell Labs in the mid 70's: > > UNiversal Information eXchange. > > Perhaps it's a retronym, but it sure fits both the name itself (since > it was always capitalized in it's earliest appearances) and the > function of the OS. ISTR a paper by dmr (I think) in which he mentions that Unix became UNIX only because when one of the earliest papers was written they had recently become able to use small caps and therefore did so at the slightest opportunity. Tony.