The Berkeley Software Distribution began as a set of enhancements to AT&T's Unix operating system, written by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, notably the graduate student Bill Joy. Early additions included the vi text editor and the C shell, and later releases added a widely used implementation of the TCP/IP networking protocols that helped build the internet. Over time Berkeley replaced the AT&T code with its own, and a legal dispute with AT&T in the early 1990s was settled before free versions could spread. The permissive BSD licence became hugely influential, and descendants such as FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD survive, with code in many other systems, including parts of macOS.
Before and after
- 1977Free as a Bird
- 1977Voyager program
- 1977Invention of AWK
- 1977Establishment of Khangchendzonga National Park
- 1977Creation of Berkeley Software Distribution
- 1977Founding of International Fund for Agricultural Development
- 1977Rise of Charter 77
- 1977Rise of no wave
- 1977Frederick Sanger develops rapid DNA sequencing
More in Science & technology
- 25 April 1953Watson and Crick publish the structure of DNA
- 14 February 1961Discovery of lawrencium
- 20 November 1985Creation of Microsoft Windows
- 1996Discovery of copernicium
- August 2003Discovery of moscovium
- 2006Discovery of nihonium
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.