Craig Maloney reviewed A quarter century of UNIX by Peter H. Salus
A dense book detailing the history of UNIX from its inception to the mid 1990s.
4 stars
A Quarter Century of UNIX is both a history of the UNIX operating system from its humble beginnings as a Bell Laboratories project through it's rise in academic circles, and finally with its commercial breakthrough in the 1980s and 90s. At times the book was dense with details about specific events which made it a little harder to read, but the depth and breadth of the coverage of UNIX was appreciated. The book was peppered with first-hand accounts of various events in UNIX's history. In the center of the book is a set of photo plates, and at the back is a list of notable people and terminology. You couldn't ask for a better introduction to the history of UNIX. My only complaints are that there doesn't appear to be a sequel detailing the next 25 years of UNIX, but I can let that slide (or read through Brian Kernighan's …
A Quarter Century of UNIX is both a history of the UNIX operating system from its humble beginnings as a Bell Laboratories project through it's rise in academic circles, and finally with its commercial breakthrough in the 1980s and 90s. At times the book was dense with details about specific events which made it a little harder to read, but the depth and breadth of the coverage of UNIX was appreciated. The book was peppered with first-hand accounts of various events in UNIX's history. In the center of the book is a set of photo plates, and at the back is a list of notable people and terminology. You couldn't ask for a better introduction to the history of UNIX. My only complaints are that there doesn't appear to be a sequel detailing the next 25 years of UNIX, but I can let that slide (or read through Brian Kernighan's accounting and memoir). What struck me the most were the parallels of the original UNIX community and the community I was a part of in the 1990s with the rise of Linux.
Highly recommended for anyone who is a fan of UNIX and wants to learn more about its history and the folks involved with its creation and propagation. Also recommended for anyone who wants to learn more about the early UNIX communities and how they worked together to make something greater than themselves..
