Unix

UNIX is a multi-tasking, multi-user operating system (programs responsible for running computers). It plays an important role in e-commerce because millions of Web servers (computers used to host Web sites) run on UNIX, along with many workstation computers. In InformationWeek, IBM indicated that UNIX was a cornerstone of e-businesses because "most major Internet developments have been driven by UNIX architectures." In the same issue, Hewlett-Packard noted that the operating system is ideal for e-commerce because of features like security, scalability, manageability, and the fact that it's widely available. Because of its dependability, UNIX is frequently used for critical procedures like processing transactions on the Web. UNIX isn't as user-friendly as graphical operating systems like Windows. It relies on commands that can be puzzling to inexperienced users. However, during the early 2000s a graphical interface called Motif was available that made the system easier for more people to use on regular desktop computers.

UNIX was created by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, two researchers at AT&T's Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. Thompson initially created the system in 1969 on an old PDP-7 minicomputer made by Digital Equipment Corp. He reportedly created UNIX over the course of one month in his spare time, after Bell pulled the plug on a seven-year project called Multics, which was attempting to create the first multi-tasking, multi-user operating system. Ritchie also contributed to the system's development, and by the mid-1970s UNIX was being used on many PDP computers. Thompson and Ritchie also invented the high-level programming language known as C, which they created to make UNIX capable of running on various different computer systems. UNIX was the first major program to be written in the C language.

In the beginning, many universities and governmental bodies used UNIX through a licensing agreement with Bell Labs, taking the source code and customizing the operating system for their own specific needs. Anti-trust regulations prevented Bell from marketing it as a regular product until the early 1980s, when the company was broken into separate units. After that time, AT&T began to push for one standard version of UNIX, releasing several versions during the 1980s. Since then, ownership of the UNIX code has changed hands several times. Novell acquired it in 1993, followed by The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) in 1995. Many attempts have been made to create one standard version, but this has proved challenging because so many variations of UNIX are in use throughout the world. Two main dialects of UNIX existed in the early 2000s; AT&T's System V and Berkeley University's BSD4.x.