Xenix

Xenix is a discontinued Unix operating system for various microcomputer platforms, licensed by Microsoft from AT&T Corporation. The first version was released in 1980, and Xenix was the most common Unix variant during the mid- to late-1980s. The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) acquired exclusive rights to the software, and eventually replaced it with SCO UNIX, later known as OpenServer 5, with the final Xenix version released in 1991.

==History== Bell Labs, the developer of Unix, was part of the regulated Bell System and could not sell Unix directly to most end users (academic and research institutions excepted); it could, however, sell it to software vendors who would then resell it to end users (or their own resellers), combined with their own added features. Microsoft, which expected that Unix would be its operating system of the future when personal computers became powerful enough, purchased a license for Version 7 Unix from AT&T in 1978, and announced on August 25, 1980, that it would make the software available for the 16-bit microcomputer market. Because Microsoft was not able to license the "Unix" name itself, the company gave it an original name.