Xenix

Xenix was a version of the Unix operating system, developed by Microsoft in the 1980s. The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) later acquired exclusive rights to the software, and eventually began distributing it as SCO UNIX.

=History=

Xenix was Microsoft s version of Unix intended for use on microprocessors, but they called it Xenix because it could not license the UNIX name.

Microsoft purchased a license for Version 7 Unix from AT&T in 1979, and announced on August 25, 1980 that it would make it available for the 16-bit microcomputer market.

Xenix varied from its 7th Edition origins by incorporating elements from Berkeley Software Distribution, and soon possessed the most widely installed base of any Unix flavour due to the popularity of the inexpensive x86 processor, even though the port created for Tandy computers proved to be more robust.

When Microsoft distributed Xenix, they did not sell it directly to end users; instead, they licensed it to computer manufacturers who then ported it to their own proprietary computer architectures. Microsoft originally ran on the PDP-11; the first port was for the Zilog Z8001 16-bit Central processing unit. Altos shipped a version for their computers early in 1982, Tandy Corporation shipped one for their 68000-based systems in January 1983, and Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) released their port to the Intel 8086 processor in September 1983. A port to the 68000-based Apple Lisa also existed. At the time, Xenix was based on AT&T s UNIX System III.

Version 2.0 of Xenix was released in 1985 that was based on UNIX System V. An update numbered 2.1.1 added support for the Intel 80286 processor. Subsequent releases improved System V compatibility.

When Microsoft entered into an agreement with International Business Machines to develop OS/2, it lost interest in promoting Xenix. In 1987 Microsoft transferred ownership of Xenix to Santa Cruz Operation in an agreement that left Microsoft owning 25% of SCO.

In 1987, SCO ported Xenix to the Intel 80386 processor, a 32-bit chip. Xenix 2.3.1 introduced support for i386, SCSI and TCP/IP.

Microsoft continued to use Xenix internally, submitting a patch to support functionality in UNIX to AT&T in .

In the late 1980s, Xenix was, according to Samuel J. Leffler et al. in The Design and Implementation of the Berkeley Software Distribution Operating System (1989), probably the most widespread version of the UNIX operating system, according to the number of machines on which it runs (p. 7).

SCO branched Xenix into SCO UNIX in 1989. In the meantime, AT&T completed its merge of Xenix, BSD, SunOS and System V into UNIX System V#SVR4. SCO UNIX was still based on UNIX System V#SVR3, but had most features of Release 4. The last version of Xenix itself was 2.3.4.

=External links=

*[http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/dmr/xenix.gif Line-art print advertisement for Microsoft Xenix, circa 1980] *[http://www.robert.to/reports/scoxenix.html Photograph and description of circa-1988 Xenix product box]