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INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation



 
 
INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation (ISC) was a software company, known for their versions of the Unix
Unix

Unix is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of American Telephone & Telegraph employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson , Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna....
 operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
.

In 1977, ISC was the first commercial Unix vendor, selling IS/1, a Version 6 Unix
Version 6 Unix

Sixth Edition Unix, also called Version 6 Unix or just V6, was the first version of the Unix operating system to see wide release outside Bell Labs....
 variant enhanced for office automation which ran on most PDP-11
PDP-11

The PDP-11 was a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corporation from 1970 into the 1990s. Though not explicitly conceived as successor to DEC's PDP-8 computer in the Programmed Data Processor series of computers , the PDP-11 replaced the PDP-8 in many Real-time computing....
's.. The later IS/3 and IS/5 were enhanced versions of System III
UNIX System III

UNIX System III was a version of the Unix operating system released by AT&T's Unix Support Group . It was first released outside of Bell Labs in 1982....
 and System V
UNIX System V

Unix System V, commonly abbreviated SysV , is one of the versions of the Unix operating system. It was originally developed by AT&T and first released in 1983....
 for PDP-11 and VAX
VAX

VAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs....
.

ISC became especially well known for their Unix ports to the IBM PC
IBM PC

The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform ....
.






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INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation (ISC) was a software company, known for their versions of the Unix
Unix

Unix is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of American Telephone & Telegraph employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson , Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna....
 operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
.

In 1977, ISC was the first commercial Unix vendor, selling IS/1, a Version 6 Unix
Version 6 Unix

Sixth Edition Unix, also called Version 6 Unix or just V6, was the first version of the Unix operating system to see wide release outside Bell Labs....
 variant enhanced for office automation which ran on most PDP-11
PDP-11

The PDP-11 was a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corporation from 1970 into the 1990s. Though not explicitly conceived as successor to DEC's PDP-8 computer in the Programmed Data Processor series of computers , the PDP-11 replaced the PDP-8 in many Real-time computing....
's.. The later IS/3 and IS/5 were enhanced versions of System III
UNIX System III

UNIX System III was a version of the Unix operating system released by AT&T's Unix Support Group . It was first released outside of Bell Labs in 1982....
 and System V
UNIX System V

Unix System V, commonly abbreviated SysV , is one of the versions of the Unix operating system. It was originally developed by AT&T and first released in 1983....
 for PDP-11 and VAX
VAX

VAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs....
.

ISC became especially well known for their Unix ports to the IBM PC
IBM PC

The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform ....
. The first of these was a variant of System III, developed under contract to IBM
IBM

International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" , is a multinational corporation computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, New York, United States....
, and known as PC/IX (Personal Computer Interactive eXecutive). Later ISC releases were branded 386/ix and finally INTERACTIVE UNIX
INTERACTIVE UNIX

INTERACTIVE UNIX System V/386 is a porting of the UNIX System V operating system for Intel x86 processors.The system was first released by INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation as 386/ix in 1985....
 System V/386 (based on System V Release 3.2). ISC was AT&T's official "Principal Publisher" for System V.4 on the Intel platform.

ISC was also involved in the development of VM/IX (Unix as a guest OS in VM/CMS), IX/360 (native Unix on the System/360
System/360

The IBM System/360 is a mainframe computer system family announced by IBM on April 7, 1964. It was the first family of computers making a clear distinction between computer architecture and implementation, allowing IBM to release a suite of compatible designs at different price points....
) and AIX
AIX operating system

AIX is the name given to a series of Proprietary software operating systems sold by IBM for several of its computer system platforms, based on UNIX System V with 4.3BSD-compatible command and programming interface extensions....
, again under contract to IBM. ISC also partnered with Segue Software and Peter Norton Computing
Peter Norton Computing

Peter Norton Computing, Inc., was a software company founded by Peter Norton. One of the most notable software packages it produced is Norton Utilities....
 to develop the Unix version of the Norton Utilities
Norton Utilities

The Norton Utilities releases are collections of software utilities.The current version 14 of Norton Utilities for Windows XP/Vista was released February 3, 2009....
.

ISC was acquired by Eastman Kodak Company in 1988.

Kodak sold the Intel-UNIX operating system business to Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems, Inc. is a multinational corporation vendor of computers, computer components, computer software, and information technology services, founded on February 24, 1982....
 on September 26, 1991. Kodak sold the remaining parts of ISC to SHL Systemhouse Inc in 1993.

Final support for Interactive System V/386 from Sun ended on July 23, 2006.