Unix conspiracy

Unix conspiracy
 n.

   [ITS] According to a conspiracy theory long popular among {ITS} and
   {TOPS-20} fans, Unix's growth is the result of a plot, hatched during
   the 1970s at Bell Labs, whose intent was to hobble AT&T's competitors
   by making them dependent upon a system whose future evolution was to
   be under AT&T's control. This would be accomplished by disseminating
   an operating system that is apparently inexpensive and easily
   portable, but also relatively unreliable and insecure (so as to
   require continuing upgrades from AT&T). This theory was lent a
   substantial impetus in 1984 by the paper referenced in the {back door}
   entry.

   In this view, Unix was designed to be one of the first computer
   viruses (see {virus}) -- but a virus spread to computers indirectly by
   people and market forces, rather than directly through disks and
   networks. Adherents of this `Unix virus' theory like to cite the fact
   that the well-known quotation "Unix is snake oil" was uttered by {DEC}
   president Kenneth Olsen shortly before DEC began actively promoting
   its own family of Unix workstations. (Olsen now claims to have been
   misquoted.)

   If there was ever such a conspiracy, it got thoroughly out of the
   plotters' control after 1990. AT&T sold its Unix operation to Novell
   around the same time {Linux} and other free-Unix distributions were
   beginning to make noise.
    

Unix conspiracy

   [ITS] According to a conspiracy theory long popular among
   {ITS} and {TOPS-20} fans, Unix's growth is the result of a
   plot, hatched during the 1970s at Bell Labs, whose intent was
   to hobble AT&T's competitors by making them dependent upon a
   system whose future evolution was to be under AT&T's control.
   This would be accomplished by disseminating an operating
   system that is apparently inexpensive and easily portable, but
   also relatively unreliable and insecure (so as to require
   continuing upgrades from AT&T).  This theory was lent a
   substantial impetus in 1984 by the paper referenced in the
   {back door} entry.

   In this view, Unix was designed to be one of the first
   computer viruses (see {virus}) - but a virus spread to
   computers indirectly by people and market forces, rather than
   directly through disks and networks.  Adherents of this "Unix
   virus" theory like to cite the fact that the well-known
   quotation "Unix is snake oil" was uttered by DEC president
   Kenneth Olsen shortly before DEC began actively promoting its
   own family of Unix workstations.  (Olsen now claims to have
   been misquoted.)