Unix Expo
{{Short description|Unix trade show in NY, NY, US (1984–1996)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020|cs1-dates=ll}}
{{Infobox convention
| name = Unix Expo
| image = Unix Expo '95 attendee planning guide cover.jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| status = Inactive
| genre = Technology conference and trade show
| country = United States
| first = 1984
| last = 1996
| location = New York City
| venue = {{unbulleted list|Sheraton Centre Hotel|Javits Center}}
| attendance = 35,000 at peak (early 1990s)
| organizer = {{unbulleted list|Blenheim Group}}
}}
Unix Expo was a conference and trade show that focused on the Unix operating system, and software based on Unix, in the information technology sector. It ran from 1984 through 1996 and was held in New York City during the autumn season. The show was owned and managed by the Blenheim Group.
Origins
The first Unix Expo was held in October 1984 and was split between the Sheraton Centre Hotel and the Marina Expo complex in New York and had the formal title of Unix Operating System Exposition & Conference.{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=chhO3s_vDsIC&pg=PA35 | title=Unix Expo slated for New York | newspaper=Computerworld | date=July 9, 1984 | page=35}} It was organized by the Unigroup users' group for Unix, and some seventy Unix-related vendors signed up to display at it.{{cite news | author-last=Sakowski | author-first=N. |author2-first= L. | author2-last=Baker | title=UNIX | magazine=PC Week | date= August 1984 | pages=63–65 | via= Gale General OneFile | url= https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A573131/ITOF?u=wikipedia&sid=ITOF&xid=6d8922da }}
The shows
AT&T Corporation, owner of Bell Labs, the creator of Unix, was the company behind the early commercial push for Unix adoption; accordingly it had the anchor display position in early shows. By 1987, in its fourth year, the show had some 16,000 attendees, with commercial interest rising in Unix due to its portability and strengths in development tools and networking.{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mUSIMiurpfYC&pg=PP14 | title=Unix gets scattered applause | author-first=Alan | author-last=Alper | newspaper=Computerworld | date=November 2, 1997 | page=14}} Due to acquisitions of various promotions firms, the show was run under the names of several different companies, ending with the Blenheim Group.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/505208508/?terms=%22unix%2Bexpo%22%2Bbill%2Bgates | title=Obituaries: Ianuzzi | newspaper=The Record | location=Bergen County, New Jersey | date=September 18, 2013 | page=L-5 | via=Newspapers.com}}
The show grew in significance; in 1985 it was where AT&T unveiled Xenix System V,{{cite news | author-last=Sandler | author-first= C. | title=AT&T Shows Off Xenix System V at Unix Expo | magazine=PC Week | date= September 24, 1985 | page=3 | via= Gale General OneFile | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A645127/ITOF?u=wikipedia&sid=ITOF&xid=dc06448a }} and in 1989 it was the site of AT&T's unveiling of the much-talked-about System V Release 4 version of Unix. Similarly, it was a site where discussions to end the divisive Unix wars could take place.{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dTAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA41 | title=Hopes of Reunification Highlight Eventful Year for Unix Community | first=Martin | last=Marshall | newspaper=InfoWorld | date=December 18, 1989 | page=41}} Numerous other product announcements and company alliances were also announced during a Unix Expo.{{cite news | url= | title=1989: The Year in Unix – 3 | work=Computergram International | publisher=Computer Business Review | date=January 15, 1990}}
In its peak years, the show was held within the Javits Center and had upwards of 35,000 attendees.{{cite press release | url=https://www.novell.com/news/press/archive/1995/05/pr00114.html | title=Novell and UnixWare Technology Group To Co-Sponsor UnixWare Solutions Pavilion at Blenheim Group USA UNIX EXPO Conference | publisher=Novell | date=May 16, 1995}} Along with Uniforum in San Francisco in the spring, Unix Expo was considered one of the two big Unix-themed trade shows and conferences that one could attend during a year.{{cite news | author-last=Birnstock | author-first=Andrew | title=It's showtime! | magazine=UNIX Review | date=April 1994 | page=7 | via=Gale Academic OneFile | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A15066415/AONE?u=wikipedia&sid=AONE&xid=a6ddb889 }} The show featured keynote addresses by the likes of Oracle Corporation head Larry Ellison, O'Reilly Media founder Tim O'Reilly, the Santa Cruz Operation CEO Alok Mohan, and Sun Microsystems president Ed Zander. It also featured panel discussions, technology- and business-oriented breakout sessions, and floor space for exhibiting vendors such as the aforementioned companies as well as DEC, HP, IBM, Novell, and numerous others.{{cite news | url=https://www.krsaborio.net/unix/research/1994/10-a.htm | title=Eleventh Annual UNIX EXPO in New York | publisher=krsaborio.net | date=August 23, 1994 | access-date=May 24, 2020}}
Image:Unix Expo special notice regarding time of Bill Gates keynote address.jpg
Two well-known industry CEOs not normally associated with Unix gave keynotes at Unix Expo: Steve Jobs in 1991, when he was head of NeXT (whose innovative NeXTSTEP operating system was built on top of Unix) in between stints at Apple Computer,{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/218245999/?terms=%22unix%2Bexpo%22%2B%22steve%2Bjobs%22%2Bkeynote | title=Jobs says company has finally hit stride | agency=Associated Press | newspaper=The Town Talk | location=Alexandria–Pineville, Louisiana | date=October 31, 1991 | page=B-9 | via=Newspapers.com}} and Bill Gates in 1996, when he was running Microsoft.{{cite news | url=http://sunsite.uakom.sk/sunworldonline/swol-10-1996/swol-10-gates.html | title=Unix Expo: Gates serves up NT as Unix flavor | author-first=Rebecca | author-last=Sykes | magazine=SunWorld | date=October 1996}}
The latter appearance was much anticipated, as Microsoft's Windows NT server operating system product was the major rival of Unix and Gates was often seen as an industry villain.{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA4 | title=Industry hero or villain? Microsoft's Gates insists he's neither one | author-first=David | author-last=Coursey | author2-first = Stuart J. | author2-last=Johnston | magazine=InfoWorld | date=August 3, 1992 | page=12}} As industry chronicle Computerworld headlined a story to portray it: "Gates to step into pro-Unix lion's den."{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QBztcDotemMC&pg=PT13 | title=Gates to step into pro-Unix lion's den | author-first=Laura | author-last=DiDio | newspaper=Computerworld | date=October 7, 1996 | page=14}} while Computer Reseller News said that Gates was taking "the Windows NT battle right into the belly of the beast at Unix Expo".{{cite news | author-last=Darrow | author-first=Barbara | title=Bill Gates | magazine=Computer Reseller News | date= November 18, 1996 | page=144 | via=Gale General OneFile | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A18884330/ITOF?u=wikipedia&sid=ITOF&xid=1738af49 }} In a large presentation area filled to capacity, Gates gave a message centered around the notion that Windows NT and Unix were not as far apart as one might think. But the rivalry was still manifest. During the keynote Gates oversaw a staffer running a demo of a beta version of the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser running on the Unix-based Sun Solaris operating system.{{cite news | author-last=Bournellis | author-first= Cynthia | title=Microsoft presence sends wake-up call | magazine= Electronic News | date= October 14, 1996 | page= 6 | via= Gale General OneFile | url= https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A18783402/ITOF?u=wikipedia&sid=ITOF&xid=08b7cff1 }} And as SunWorld magazine reported, "to the delight of the crowd, it crashed the first time around."
End
As it happened, 1996 was to be the last Unix Expo.{{cite news | url= | title=Unix gets an expo of its own again | work=Computergram International | publisher=Computer Business Review | date=October 28, 1998}} During the final two years of its run, vendor participation and attendee numbers had both declined. This was attributable to Unix having become a well-established technology that had found widespread acceptance and a level of maturity; as such, it was no longer the sort of leading-edge technology that tended to warrant a demand for dedicated trade shows and conferences.{{cite news | url=http://www.uniforum.org/news/html/publications/uninews/961016/Inews2.html | title=Unix Expo Fades Out | author-first=Dick | author-last=Shippee | work=UniNews | publisher=Uniforum | date=October 16, 1996}} That role was beginning to be taken on by the Linux operating system, which had had some small exhibits within Unix Expo and now was attracting more industry interest as a leading-edge development.
Accordingly, in 1997 Unix Expo ceased to be its own entity and was folded into a new larger and more general show called IT Forum '97 and run by Miller Freeman.{{cite news | url=https://linuxgazette.net/issue24/smith.html | title=LXNY at UNIX EXPO '97 | author-first=Michael E. | author-last=Smith | work=Linux Gazette | date=January 1998 }}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.landley.net/history/mirror/collate/uexpo.asp Transcript of Bill Gates' October 9, 1996 keynote at Unix Expo]
Category:Conferences in the United States
Category:Recurring events established in 1984