These messages and the ones that follow are merely threads and responses to the above rumors. Not totally necessary, but entertaining to some.
-mgabrys
Cable
Cable4096@nospam.com
Xenix: back when MS was just starting out.
>Yup, Xenix was 16-bit only.
>But there was a time - and this is hilarious when you >consider the current state of affairs of NT v. Unix and >Microsoft v. all the sorry Unix hardware vendors - that >there were more computers running Microsoft Xenix than ALL >OTHER VERSIONS OF UNIX COMBINED!
That much may be true. At that time MS had a stable OS, with power and 99.44% crash-proof with true multitasking.
In fact, IBM had planned to offer Xenix as an option for its AT computers in 1984 with Dumb Terminals hooked up to it for multi-user access.
>Yes indeed, Microsoft was the BIGGEST UNIX LICENSEE of ALL!
Maybe.
>No kidding, that's what a mass market platform like a PC
>will get you; even the primitive 286 based PCs that
>existed back then. Lots and lots of stores ran vertical
>applications on Xenix software. Lots and lots of fast food
>joints (big brand names) ran their store and all their
>cash registers on Xenix software.
Yeah one of my business partners used to work at a "Jack In The Box" around the time Xenix was popular, and they used it in the kitchen to place orders. He knew the modem number, and was able to dial in and run programs on their system. He went to college at the time, and learned all he could about Unix.
>Even the mighty Microsoft used 100s of Xenix PCs to run
>their internal email system.
Now they use 100s of multi-processor PC systems to run their e-mail globally.
>(Hard to imagine 1000s of Microsoft developers using vi, >but who knows? Maybe it happened.)
There are other editors besides the archaic VI, PICO is one such editor.
But what happened to Xenix? Why did it almost vanish in 1987, replaced by a product known as OS/2 and later Windows 3.0 replaced the OS/2 product when IBM and MS had a falling out? Why no just use that X-Window interface in Xenix and make Xenix easier to install? :)
