By 1984, divestiture was
behind AT&T and it was ready to really start selling UNIX.
UNIX Laboratory and Commercialization
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 its last name, which it had as it began its spin-off from
AT&T: UNIX System Laboratories (USL).
The UNIX source code that came out of USL, the legacy of which is now owned in part by Santa
Cruz Operation (SCO), has been used as the basis for ever-dwindling lawsuits by SCO against
major Linux vendors (such as IBM and Red Hat, Inc.). Because of that, I think the efforts from
USL that have contributed to the success of Linux are sometimes disrespected.
You have to remember that, during the 1980s, many computer companies were afraid that a newly
divested AT&T would pose more of a threat to controlling the computer industry than would an
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upstart company in Redmond, Washington. To calm the fears of IBM, Intel, DEC, and other computer
companies, the UNIX Lab made the following commitments to ensure a level playing field:
Source code only??”Instead of producing its own boxed set of UNIX, AT&T continued
to sell only source code and to make it available equally to all licensees.
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