Unix System Laboratories: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 05:57, 16 September 2018

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== Origins as subsidiary of AT&T ==

{{seealsosee also|History of Unix|Unix Wars}}

AT&T announced the creation of the [[UNIX Software Operation]] (USO) – a separate and distinct AT&T business unit responsible for the development, marketing, and licensing of UNIX System V software – in January 1989.<ref name="signals-91">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UY0-AQAAIAAJ | title=... | magazine=Signals | date=1991 | pages=61–66}}</ref> This was done, as a subsequent press release stated, "in order to separate AT&T's UNIX System source code business from its computer systems business,"<ref name="pr-rosetta"/> the latter a reference to [[AT&T Computer Systems]]. USO included the AT&T Data Systems Group organizations responsible for UNIX product planning and management, licensing, and marketing.<ref name="pr-uso"/> [[Peter J. Weinberger]] was named chief scientist of USO while also retaining his job in the computing science research center at [[Bell Labs]]; no other Bell Labs assets were transferred to USO.<ref name="pr-uso">{{cite press release | url=http://tech-insider.org/unix/research/1989/0104.html | title=AT&T Names President Of Unix Software Operation | publisher=PR Newswire | date=January 4, 1989}}</ref> The head of USO was Larry Dooling, who had been a vice-president in sales and marketing in the AT&T Data Systems Group.<ref name="pr-uso"/>

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However USO continued to operate as USO until June 1990, when the reincorporation of AT&T's European and Asian Unix business operations as wholly owned subsidiaries of USL was completed.<ref name="signals-91"/> At that point the UNIX Software Operation was publicly rebranded as UNIX System Laboratories.<ref name="pr-rosetta">{{cite press release | url=http://tech-insider.org/unix/research/1990/0625.html | title=AT&T Renames Unix Software Unix System Laboratories | publisher=PR Newsire | date=June 25, 1990}}</ref>

Again, a point of emphasis was to separate the Unix-based business from AT&T's hardware-based business.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0bqdMvDMv74C&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10 | title= AT&T's Unix unit spun off | first=Johanna | last=Ambrosio | newspaper=Computerworld | date=July 23, 1990 | page=10}}</ref> The subsidiaries were known as UNIX System Laboratories Europe, Ltd., sited on [[Ealing Broadway]] in [[London]], and UNIX System Laboratories Pacific, Ltd., located in [[Shiba, Tokyo]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xe-8gZ6FoIMC&pg=PA39 | title=AUUG Conference Proceedings 1992 | publisher=Australian Open Systems Users Group | date=Summer 1992 | page=39}}</ref>

Dooling was named the initial president of USL, continuing from his position at USO.<ref name="pr-rosetta"/>

These organizational changes were taking place in the context of the [[Open system (computing)|open systems movement]] and the ongoing [[Unix wars]]. In consequence, the pro-AT&T side [[Unix International]] (as opposed to the anti-AT&T side [[Open Software Foundation]]) declared that "In the last 18 months AT&T has made good on its commitment to treat UNIX System as the industry asset it is and to open the UNIX System V development process to the entire industry."<ref name="pr-rosetta"/>

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| title=History and Timeline | publisher=The Open Group | accessdate=December 1, 2017}}</ref> There were additions and new innovations as well from both the AT&T and Sun sides. System V Release 4 debuted at the [[Unix Expo]] trade show in New York in November 1989, in the form of source code availability for it as well as demonstrations from Unix International of SVR4-based applications running on seventeen different vendor platforms.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dTAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA41 | title=Hopes of Reunification Highlight Eventful Year for Unix Community | first=Martin | last=Marshall | newspaper=InfoWorld | date=December 18, 1989 | page=41}}</ref> End-user versions of Release 4 became available during 1990.<ref name="advanced"/>

Next USL engaged in an especially arduous effort 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 System V 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 |first=William |last=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>

Following that, USL worked on [[UNIX System V#SVR4.2 / UnixWare|System V Release 4.2]], which was released in June 1992.<ref name="iw-42">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7D0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA1 | title=Univel targets UnixWare release for early fall | first=Vance | last=McCarthy | first2=Cate | last2=Corcoran | newspaper=InfoWorld | date=May 11, 1992 | pages=1, 103}}</ref> ''[[InfoWorld]]'' characterized this effort as "at the core of an assault on the enterprise networking market," with a modular architecture that stressed improved support for enterprise- and network-level administration, drivers for both [[Token Ring]] and [[Ethernet]], and a greater ability to run on low-end machine configurations.<ref name="iw-42"/>

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USL produced many books documenting various aspects of Unix System V.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n91048302/ | title=Identities: UNIX System Laboratories | publisher=WorldCat | accessdate=May 6, 2018}} WorldCat lists "122 works in 297 publications in 1 language and 1,849 library holdings" from USL.</ref>

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

==Other software work==

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==C++ language work==

{{seealsosee also|C++#History}}

There was also a languages department at Unix System Laboratories,<!-- https://books.google.com/books?id=9yMQAQAAMAAJ Dr. Dobb's Journal of Software Tools ... is member of the languages department at Unix System Laboratories and is the editor of the Standard for the C++ Standardization committee. --> which was responsible for the [[C language]] compiler and development tools used to build Unix.<ref name="pr-uso"/> Moreover it was responsible for commercial sales related to the C++ language, including development tools such as the [[Cfront]] compiler that had come from AT&T.<ref name="d-and-e"/>

Indeed the paper describing one of the first implementations of automatic instantiation of [[Template (C++)|C++ templates]] in a C++ compiler had as lead author an engineer associated with Unix System Laboratories.<ref>{{cite journal | first=Glen | last=McCluskey | first2=Robert B. | last2=Murray | title=Template Instantiation For C++ | journal=SIGPLAN Notices | volume=27 | issue=12 | date=December 1992 | pages=47–56}}</ref><ref name="m-and-c"/> And [[Margaret A. Ellis]], co-author with C++ creator [[Bjarne Stroustrup]] of ''The Annotated C++ Reference Manual'', an important publication in the history of the language, was a USL software engineer.<ref name="d-and-e"/>

[[Image:USL office in Summit.jpg|thumb|250px|right|A software developer working in the Summit building]]

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An AT&T executive said, "AT&T is convinced that the best way to nurture the growth of the open systems movement and to share into it ourselves is to establish an independent Unix Systems Laboratory with the technical guidance of Unix International and the business advice of investors who will ensure that USL is run properly and profitably."<ref name="nw-knowhow"/>

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"/>

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>

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== Univel and UnixWare ==

{{seealsosee also|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

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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 -->

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"/>