Unix System Laboratories: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:52, 29 April 2018

Revision as of 10:14, 1 May 2018

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One unit within USL, headed by Michael J. DeFazio, was responsible for the development of the UNIX System V base technology.<ref name="pr-rosetta"/>

The USO/USL staff was heavily involved in the creation of [[SVR4|UNIX System V Release 4]], which shipped in 1989 and was a joint project with [[Sun Microsystems]].<ref name="timeline"/> This work incorporated technology from a variety of Unix-based efforts, including [[UNIX System V]], [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]], and [[Xenix]].<ref name="timeline">{{cite web | url=http://www.unix.org/what_is_unix/history_timeline.html

| title=History and Timeline | publisher=The Open Group | accessdate=December 1, 2017}}</ref> There were additions and new innovations as well. An especially arduous effort went into trying to satisfy the requirements of the [[National Computer Security Center]]'s [[Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria]] to the B2 level.<ref name="cw-sec">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a6P8XXI-B8cC&pg=PA32 | title=AT&T Unix to gain enhanced security | first=Johanna | last=Ambrosio | newspaper=Computerworld | date=October 1, 1990 | page=32}}</ref>

An especially arduous effort went into trying to satisfy the requirements of the [[National Computer Security Center]]'s [[Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria]] ("Orange Book") to the B2 level.<ref name="cw-sec">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a6P8XXI-B8cC&pg=PA32 | title=AT&T Unix to gain enhanced security | first=Johanna | last=Ambrosio | newspaper=Computerworld | date=October 1, 1990 | page=32}}</ref> This manifested itself in Release 4.1 ES (Enhanced Security), which also included generally useful features such as support for dynamic loading of kernel modules.<ref>{{cite news |title=Unix International reviews the Unix System V.4 story so far |author=William Fellows |date= August 13, 1992 |publisher=Computer Business Review |url=<!--blacklisted http://www.cbronline.com/news/unix_international_reviews_the_unix_system_v4_story_so_far --> |}}</ref>

USL also provided some training and consulting services for Unix systems.<ref name="pr-finalized"/>

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Some within USL believed that C++ Standard Components could become a language standard as well as a significant source of revenue,<ref name="d-and-e"/> but it had trouble gaining traction outside of AT&T. Stroustrup would later describe these goals as "a misguided belief".<ref name="d-and-e">{{cite book | first=Bjarne | last=Stroustrup | title=The Design and Evolution of C++ | publisher=Addison-Wesley | ___location=Reading, Massachusetts | date=1994 | pages=124–125, 126–127, 184 }}</ref><!-- see the HOPL II/III? paper if I have it ... looks like nothing in either --> In any case, all such libraries were soon eclipsed by the radically different [[Standard Template Library]] (STL), which became the standardized foundation library for the C++ language.<ref>{{cite conference | contribution=Evolving a language in and for the real world: C++ 1991-2006 | first=Bjarne | last=Stroustrup | title=Proceedings of the third ACM SIGPLAN conference on history of programming languages | date=June 2007 | publisher=ACM | pages=4-8–4-11 }}</ref> As it happens, one of the Standard Components, array_alg, was designed by the creator of STL, [[Alex Stepanov]], and can be considered an early predecessor of STL.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://stepanovpapers.com/ | title=Alexander A. Stepanov | publisher=stepanovpapers.com | date=October 6, 2016 | accessdate=December 15, 2017}} and {{cite web | url=http://osr600doc.sco.com/en/SDK_c++/_No_More_Array_Errors_Part_II_-_.html | title=No More Array Errors (Part II) - Array_alg(C++) | publisher=The SCO Group | date=June 2, 2005 | accessdate=April 28, 2018}}</ref>

== Partial spinoff from AT&T and Univel ==

{{seealso|Univel|UnixWare}}

In April 1991, USL became partly independent of AT&T when about 22&nbsp;percent of it, worth about $65 million, was sold to eleven outside computer vendors: [[Amdahl Corporation|Amdahl]], [[Motorola]], Novell, Sun, [[International Computers Limited|ICL]], [[Olivetti]], [[Fujitsu]], [[NEC]], [[Oki Electric Industry|OKI Electric]], [[Toshiba]], and the [[Institute for Information Industry]].<ref name="cw-selloff">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D8pyWaTBzyoC&pg=PA12 | title=AT&T's Unix sell-off won't sway OSF | first=Johanna | last=Ambrosio | newspaper=Computerworld | date=April 8, 1991 | page=12}}</ref> There was a stated goal to lessen the control AT&T had over Unix, which would lead to USL becoming a publicly-owned company within three years.<ref name="cw-selloff"/>

By this point USL had some 500&nbsp;employees, 2400&nbsp;customers, and annual revenue around the $100&nbsp;million mark.<ref name="cw-selloff"/> AT&T said that USL had been profitable since its inception in 1989.<ref name="cw-selloff"/>

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USL got a new president and CEO in November 1991 when Dooling was replaced by the Dutchman [[Roel Pieper]], formerly chief technical officer of [[Software AG]].<ref name="cwde-roel">{{cite news | url=https://www.computerwoche.de/a/roel-pieper-ist-neuer-chef-der-usl,1143313 | title=Roel Pieper ist neuer Chef der USL | newspaper=Computerwoche von IDG | date=December 6, 1991 | page= | language=German}}</ref>

USL was aggressive in defending its perceived intellectual property rights, initiatedinitiating as the plaintiff a lawsuit in 1992 against [[Berkeley Software Design]] makers of and the [[Regents of the University of California]] over copyrights and trademarks related to Unix.<ref name="ieee-unix">{{cite news | url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/cyberspace/the-strange-birth-and-long-life-of-unix | title=The Strange Birth and Long Life of Unix | date=November 28, 2011 | first=Warren | last=Toomey | magazine=IEEE Spectrum}}</ref> The lawsuitcase was known as ''[[UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. v. Berkeley Software Design, Inc.]]'' and in it USL asked the court for a [[preliminary injunction]] that would bar BSDithe Berkeley firm and UCthe Berkeleyuniversity from distributing their [[Net/2]] operating system release, which was implied to be Unix, until the case was concluded.<ref name="conn"/> In response the university filed a countersuit against AT&T for alleged breaches in the licensing agreement the two parties had.<ref name="ieee-unix"/> (The case was settled out of court in January 1994.<ref name="conn">{{cite web | url=https://opencommons.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1009&context=libr_pubs | title=Open Source Software: A History | first=David | last=Bretthauer | publisher=University of Connecticut | date=December 26, 2001}}</ref>)

== Univel and UnixWare ==

{{seealso|Univel|UnixWare}}

In December 1991, USL combined with Novell to form the [[Univel]] joint venture.<ref name="cw-univel">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FzdIrgXpYXAC&pg=PA115 | title=Unix Labs, Novell tighten ties | first=Jim | last=Nash | newspaper= Computerworld | date=December 16, 1991 | page=115}}</ref> The goal was to make the "[[Univel Destiny|Destiny]]" desktop for Intel commodity hardware, which would be USL's first shrink-wrapped binary product, with the necessary resources for sales, marketing, and distribution being moved into the new entity.<ref>{{cite news |publisher=Computer Business Review |url= <!-- blacklisted http://w w w . c b r o n l i n e . c o m/news/unix_labs_and_novell_plan_joint_venture_reveal_bones_of_mass_distribution_alliance --> |title=Unix Labs and Novell plan join venture, reveal bones of mass distribution alliance |date=October 24, 1991 }}</ref>

[[Kanwal Rekhi]], a Novell vice president who helped launch Univel, said the

goal was to create a "Unix for the masses".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aw8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA13 | title=Univel developing user-friendly Unix | first=Margie | last=Wylie | magazine=Network World | date=April 13, 1992 | page=13}}</ref>

goal was to create a "Unix for the masses".

<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aw8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA13 | title=Univel developing user-friendly Unix | first=Margie | last=Wylie | magazine=Network World | date=April 13, 1992 | page=13}}</ref>

A May 1992 ''[[InfoWorld]]'' interivew with Pieper captured some of the ambitions of USL at the time, as Pieper said: "It is not just a new Unix version; rather it is the creation of an entire model change for Unix that says there are better ways to bring the benefits and features of Unix into a distributed PC environment. The earlier model did not allow Unix to play in the low-end market because of its size, complexity, and cost. The new model calls for business partnerships, such as the one with Novell, to deliver Unix to the commercial marketplace."<ref name="iw-roel"/> In another interview around the same time, Pieper predicted that if the new Unix became a success, USL revenue could increase ten-fold to $1 billion within five years.<ref name="bb-roel">{{cite news | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1992-06-21/a-unix-for-the-masses | title=A Unix For The Masses? | first=Evan I. | last=Schwartz | publisher=Bloomberg News | date=June 22, 1992}}</ref>

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Indeed, Pieper had aspirations to be another [[Bill Gates]]: "I want to be in the same position."<ref name="bb-roel"/>

UnixWare 1.0, which is what Destiny became a product as, was announced on October 12, 1992.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=klEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA1 | title=Novell sees the future in Unix; OS/2 rebuffed | first=Cheryl | last=Gerber | newspaper=InfoWorld | date=September 28, 1992 | page=1}}</ref> It was based on the [[System V#SVR4.2|Unix System V release 4.2]] kernel. The [[MoOLIT]] toolkit was used for the [[windowing system]], allowing the user to choose between an [[OPEN LOOK]] or [[Motif (software)|MOTIF]]-like look and feel at run time. In order to make the system more robust on commodity desktop hardware the [[Veritas Software|Veritas]] [[Veritas File System|VXFS]] [[journaling file system]] was used in place of the [[Unix File System|UFS]] file system used in SVR4. Networking support in UnixWare included both [[TCP/IP]] and interoperability with Novell's [[NetWare]] protocols of [[IPX/SPX]].<ref name="infoworld"/> The former were the standard among Unix users at the time of development, while PC networking was much more commonly based on the highly successful NetWare product; indeed, the base level of the Personal Edition of UnixWare did not even have TCP/IP included, while the Application Server version did.<ref name="infoworld">{{cite news |newspaper=InfoWorld |date=June 28, 1993 |first=Alan |last=Radding |title=UnixWare: Bringing shrink-wrapped Unix to the masses |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PzsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA66 |pages=65–66}}</ref> <!--TODO https://books.google.com/books?id=zzsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20 Feb 1993 ad in InfoWorld -->

On October 12, 1992, the UnixWare product was announced as a joint effort between Novell and USL. <!--TODO https://books.google.com/books?id=zzsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20 Feb 1993 ad in InfoWorld --> Initial sales of UnixWare were underwhelming, with Unix facing a difficult time in the PC market.<ref name="cw-longshot"/> This was in part because Windows already had a stronghold there, in part because USL's third-party licensing payment obligations made low-cost sales uneconomical, and in part because of a lack of applications to run on UnixWare.<ref name="negus"/>

On October 12, 1992, the UnixWare product was announced as a joint effort between Novell and USL. <!--TODO https://books.google.com/books?id=zzsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20 Feb 1993 ad in InfoWorld --> Initial sales of UnixWare were underwhelming, with Unix facing a difficult time in the PC market.<ref name="cw-longshot"/> This was in part because Windows already had a stronghold there, in part because USL's third-party licensing payment obligations made low-cost sales uneconomical, and in part because of a lack of applications to run on UnixWare.<ref name="negus"/>

== Acquisition by Novell ==

[[Image:Novell building in Summit.jpg|thumb|250px|The Summit building in the Novell Unix Systems Group era]]

On December 21, 1992, it was announced that [[Novell]] would acquire Unix System Laboratories, and all of its Unix assets, including all copyrights, trademarks, and licensing contracts, for some $335 million in stock.<ref name="lat-novell">{{cite news | url=http://articles.latimes.com/1992-12-22/business/fi-2406_1_networking-technology | title=Technology | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=December 22, 1992}}</ref>

The measure was intended to help Novell compete against [[Microsoft]], which was on the verge of including networking as a built-in feature of [[Windows]] in conjunction with the [[Windows NT]] server.<ref name="lat-novell"/><ref name="cw-longshot"/> It was also an outgrowth of Novell chief [[Ray Noorda]]'s theories about [[coopetition]] in a technology industry.<ref name="cbr-japan"/> TODO clarify