ComputerWorld reports that Unix turns 40. Why would anyone but the geeks care about this birthday? Because just about everything that works well on your personal computer has Unix roots – except for the graphical interface which came from Xerox PARC.
- The hierarchical file system in which a directory contains files and other directories which in turn contain files and directories, etc, etc.
- Linux, an open source Unix, runs most of the web servers of the world.
- Sockets, a programming layer on top of the TCP communications protocol, first appeared on BSD Unix. All of the web and email services we rely on is built with sockets.
- Open source started at UC Berkley with BSD.
- Tim Berners Lee invented the world wide web on a Unix based NeXT system using BSD Unix and sockets.
Happy 40th Unix!
Dagny's Desk 