Origins of OS X

Subject was: Re: TRS-80 Model 1 (was: Arty computers On Fri, 2007-02-02 at 01:40 -0600, Doc Shipley wrote: Okay... I just checked, and Apple did NOT go to the nicety of licensing OS X as a version of UNIX. I'm sorry I issued incorrect information; I simply assumed that they HAD licensed it, since others in similar situations have done so. The fact that they have NOT licensed what they are using might well put them at legal risk. I believe they could, (and probably SHOULD,) license OS X as containing UNIX code, and my reasoning goes like this: NeXTStep was based upon the Mach 2.5 Kernel. The Mach Kernel was developed at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a replacement for the kernel in the BSD (actually licensed) version of UNIX, and thus became part of licensed UNIX. NeXT then collaborated with, among others, Sun, to implement a new standard for NeXTStep, Solaris (another actually licensed version of UNIX) and Windows, called OpenStep. Then, in 1997, Apple acquired NeXT, and used NeXT's version of OpenStep as the basis for OS X. One can see proof of this in that the Objective C classes start with "NS," and in the form of a few admissions in the Man Pages in OS X which directly credit NeXTStep. I dunno... Do you find this an adequate lineage? I believe that a decent case could be made, and probably won, that Apple is infringing on UNIX with OS X. It's true I erroneously assumed that Apple had licensed it, since I find it bizarre that a company with as much money as Apple would expose themselves to something as potentially crippling as the loss of their operating system. In a country as litigious as the United States, one does not often find a company leaving their, erm, apples dangling in the breeze that way. I'm still finding it hard to believe, although I do appreciate your pointing that fact out to me. I would guess that the intellectual property rights of UNIX ended up with Alcatel-Lucent, but, that whole related series of trades, spin-offs and mergers has left me a bit confused. In any case, WHOEVER now owns the rights to UNIX would probably be interested in the fact that some version of their code is being sold without license. Peace, Warren E. Wolfe wizard at voyager.net