You've got that right, although I learned that from a different perspective. A Unix magazine I contracted for was contacted more than once by AT&T legal saying "Unix" is an adjective, not a noun. I didn't know about the connection with copyright.

Rik

On Fri, Feb 14, 2025 at 1:40 PM Brantley Coile <brantley@coraid.com> wrote:

UNIX is a trademark and as such, it's an adjective and needs a noun to go with it. Unix operating system is okay. Unix system is more descriptive. It's a intellectual property thing.

Brantley

> On Feb 14, 2025, at 3:36 PM, segaloco via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:
>
> So in most technical circles and indeed in the research communities surrounding
> UNIX, the name of the system was just that, UNIX, prefixed often with some
> descriptor of which stream, be it Research, USG, BSD/Berkeley, but in any case
> the name UNIX itself was descriptive of the operating system for many of its
> acolytes and disciples.
>
> However, in AT&T literature and media, addition of "System" to the end of the
> formal name seemed to become de facto if not de jure.  This can be seen for
> instance in manual edits in the early 80s with references to just "UNIX" being
> replaced with variations on "The UNIX System", sometimes haphazardly as if done
> via a search and replace with little review.  This too is evident in some
> informative films published by AT&T, available on YouTube today as
> "The UNIX Operating System" and "UNIX: Making Computers Easier to Use"[1][2].
> Discrepancies in the titles of the videos notwithstanding, throughout it seems
> there are several instances where audio of an interviewee saying
> "The UNIX System" were edited over what I presume were instances of them simply
> saying UNIX.
>
> I'm curious if anyone has the scoop on whether this was an attempt to echo the
> "One Bell System" and related terminology, marketing tag lines like
> "The System is the Solution", and/or the naming of the revisions themselves as
> "System <xyz>".  On the other hand, could it have simply been for clarity, with
> the uninitiated not being able to glean from the product name anything about it,
> making the case for adding "System" in formal descriptions to give them a little
> bit of a hint.
>
> Bell Labs folks especially, was there ever some grand thou shalt call it
> "The UNIX System" in all PR directive or was it just something that organically
> happened over time as bureaucratic powers at be got their hands on a part of the
> steering wheel?
>
> - Matt G.
>
> [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc4ROCJYbm0
> [2] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvDZLjaCJuw