Unix System Laboratories: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:26, 20 November 2020

Revision as of 23:22, 25 November 2020

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in a building located off a [[Cloverleaf interchange|

cloverleaf-like interchange]] among [[New Jersey Route 24]], [[New Jersey Route 124]], and [[County Route 649 (Essex County, New Jersey)|John F. Kennedy Parkway]] and across from [[The Mall at Short Hills]]

and near the [[Passaic River]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/190+River+Rd,+Summit,+NJ+07901/@40.7382219,-74.3690207,678m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c3af0574c6126d:0x73e4759951790c2d!8m2!3d40.7377586!4d-74.3691024 | title=190 River Rd, Summit NJ 07901 | publisher=Google Maps | accessdateaccess-date=April 1, 2018}}</ref>

UNIX System Laboratories, Inc., came into being as a separate subsidiary of AT&T in November 1989 and was assigned all U.S.-based AT&T Unix and USO assets.<ref name="pr-rosetta"/>

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One unit within USL, called the UNIX System V Software business unit and headed by Michael J. DeFazio, was responsible for the development of the UNIX System V base technology.<ref name="pr-rosetta"/> DeFazio had held a similar role within USO.<ref name="pr-uso"/>

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 | accessdateaccess-date=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 |work=Computergram International |publisher=Computer Business Review |url=<!--blacklisted http://www.cbronline.com/news/unix_international_reviews_the_unix_system_v4_story_so_far --> }}</ref>

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Multiprocessing became the focus of the final USL-based OEM release of System V, which was Release 4.2MP, released in December 1993.<ref name="timeline"/>

USL continued the publication of an early Unix standard, the [[System V Interface Definition]] (SVID).<ref name="advanced"/> Moreover, the SVID became one of the bases for the more important, vendor-independent [[POSIX]] standard for Unix, which System V Release 4 releases also conformed to, as well as the later [[Single UNIX Specification]].<ref name="advanced">{{cite book | <!-- | https://books.google.com/books?id=_kpsAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA33 --> | title=Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment | first1=W. Richard | last1=Stevens | first2=Stephen A. | last2=Rago | publisher=Addison-Wesley | edition=Third | ___location=Upper Saddle River, New Jersey | date=2013 | pages=32–33}}</ref>

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 | accessdateaccess-date=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"/>

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USL also continued the development of, and attempted to market, C++ Standard Components,

an early instance of a C++ software foundation library that supported [[Container (abstract data type)|container classes]] and various other [[computer science]]-based functionality such as [[finite-state machine]]s, [[Graph (abstract data type)|graph]]s, and [[regular expression]]s.<ref name="udk-sc"/><ref name="report"/> The Standard Components originated in conjunction with early developments in the C++ language in Bell Labs and became widely used internally within AT&T,<ref name="d-and-e"/> by one estimate being used in hundreds of projects.<ref>{{cite book | <!-- | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AhI7BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 --> | first1=M. Afshar | last1=Alam | first2=Tendai | last2=Padenga | title=Application Software Reengineering | publisher=Pearson | ___location=Delhi | date=2010 | page=146}}</ref>

They represented an effort among early library writers there to design reusable code using C++ idioms.<ref name="m-and-c">{{cite book | first1=Martin D. | last1=Carroll | first2=Margaret A. | last2=Ellis | title=Designing and Coding Reusable C++ | publisher=Addison-Wesley | ___location=Reading, Massachusetts | date=1995 | pages=x, 231}}</ref> Unlike its other offerings, which were sold to OEM vendors and resellers, here USL sold to end users.<ref name="report">{{cite news | title=Product Review: The USL C++ Standard Components Release 2 (end user package) | first=Bill | last=Leggett | magazine=C++ Report | date=June 1992 | pages=69–73}}</ref> The initial release of USL C++ Standard Components to the general computing industry was labelled as Release 2.0 and occurred in 1991;<ref name="udk-hist"/> it suffered from an awkward mechanism to get around the lack of templates in the container classes.<ref name="report"/> That was followed by Release 3.0, which added support for templates, in 1992.<ref name="udk-hist">{{cite web | url=http://osr600doc.sco.com/en/SDK_c++/_Product_History.html | title=Product History | publisher=The SCO Group | date=June 2, 2005 | accessdateaccess-date=April 28, 2018}}</ref> <!-- USL C++ Standard Components Release 3.0 Programmer's Reference - could include cover of that C++ SC manual as fair use if I still have it somewhere -->

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 | bibcode=1994dec..book.....S }}</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 | accessdateaccess-date=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 | accessdateaccess-date=April 28, 2018}}</ref>

== Partial spinoff from AT&T ==

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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=Germande}}</ref>

USL was aggressive in defending its perceived intellectual property rights, initiating 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 case 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 the Berkeley firm and the university 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>)

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Novell announced the sale of Unix to the [[Santa Cruz Operation]], coincident with a licensing arrangement with [[Hewlett Packard]], in September 1995.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5w4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA134 | title=UnixWare survives through sale, licensing deal | magazine=Network World | date=September 25, 1995 | page=134}}</ref> Following another change of ownership, the renamed [[The SCO Group]] and the Unix System V source base became elements of the [[SCO–Linux disputes]].<ref name="crn-news"/>

Although it never took off within the industry, C++ Standard Components remained in the development kits for Novell UnixWare, later SCO UnixWare, into the 2000s.<ref name="udk-sc">{{cite web | url=http://osr600doc.sco.com/en/SDK_c++/_C_Standard_Components.html | title=C++ Standard Components | publisher=The SCO Group | date=June 2, 2005 | accessdateaccess-date=December 1, 2017}} See also [http://osr600doc.sco.com/en/SDK_c++/_Relationship_to_the_C_Standard_.html "Relationship to the C++ Standard Library"] at the same site.</ref> Tuxedo was acquired by [[BEA Systems]] in the 1990s, and then upon that firm being acquired became part of [[Oracle Fusion Middleware]].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/tuxedo/overview/index.html | title=Oracle Tuxedo | publisher=Oracle | accessdateaccess-date=May 5, 2018}}</ref>

In the view of writer Christopher Negus,

"The UNIX Laboratory was considered a jewel that couldn't quite find a home or a way to make a profit. As it moved between Bell Laboratories and other areas of AT&T, its name changed several times. It is probably best remembered by the name it had as it began its spin-off from AT&T: UNIX System Laboratories (USL)."<ref name="negus">{{cite book | <!-- | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1D9WpeD5B_UC&pg=PA12 --> <!-- https://books.google.com/books?id=2BsFCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 --> | title=Linux Bible: The Comprehensive, Tutorial Resource | first=Christopher | last=Negus | publisher=John Wiley & Sons | ___location=Indianapolis | date= 2015 | edition=Ninth | pages=10–11}}</ref>

However Negus believes that in three crucial respects USL's actions – in continuing to release a source code product to its partners, in working to define industry standards such as POSIX, and in making decisions on the direction of Unix based on technical merit not corporate advantage – paved the way for the rise of a Unix-like entity such as the Linux operating system, and that this beneficial historical role has been obscured by the SCO–Linux controversies.<ref name="negus"/>