How Does UNIX = Mac OS X? The Unix Family Tree

by , 12:00 PM EST, March 27th, 2001

Whether Mac users want to admit it or not, OS X has ushered us into the wonderful world of UNIX. Many Mac users do not care about this at all, they simply want OS X to get them on the Web and to dutifully check their e-mail. Others, however, may be a little bit more interested in what this whole "UNIX thing" is all about.

One way to understand the present is to figure out what paths were taken in the past. With that said, Eric Levenez has constructed a very detailed, very complete "Unix Timeline." Mr. Levenez has graphically charted the developmental history of the world's most industrial strength operating system. Updated just this week, the Timeline in its current form ends triumphantly with "Mac OS X."

For a neat, and rather unique look at the history of UNIX, and thus the history of Mac OS X, visit Mr. Levenez's UNIX Timeline.

The Mac Observer Spin:

At first look, it might almost look like some sort of humorous parody of the relationships between various Unix flavors, but the humor is simply a reflection of how funny reality can be. This is simply the best graphical representation we have seen that shows the intricacies, twists, turns, and loop-de-loops involved with the development of UNICS in 1969 to Mac OS X, Linux, IRIX, Mach, Free BSD, and Solaris today. This family tree would give the most dedicated geneaology researchers in the world a splitting headache.

Eric Levenez