Editing Xenix (section)

=== Transfer of ownership to SCO ===
After the [[breakup of the Bell System]] in 1984, AT&T started selling System V.<ref name="shea19840220">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hS4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA43 |title=New developments may decide battle over Unix |newspaper=[[InfoWorld]] |date=1984-02-20 |access-date=25 February 2016 |author-last=Shea |author-first=Tom |pages=43–45}}</ref> Microsoft, believing that it could not compete with Unix's developer, decided to abandon Xenix. The decision was not immediately transparent, which led to the term [[vaporware]].<ref name="NYT">{{cite journal |ref=refFlynn |author-first=Laurie |author-last=Flynn |date=24 April 1995 |title=The Executive Computer |journal=[[The New York Times]] |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/24/business/information-technology-the-executive-computer.html?scp=5&sq=vaporware&st=cse |access-date=2010-04-14}}</ref> Although Gates in November 1985 wrote "In the next 18 months, there is a good chance that Xenix system installations will be able to surpass the 400,000 system mark and achieve critical mass", he said that MS-DOS and Xenix "are separate products that address different markets" and "Microsoft does not intend to merge them into one OS"; in particular, "Multi-user capability will ''never'' be a feature of MS-DOS".<ref name="gates198511">{{Cite magazine |last=Gates |first=Bill |date=November 1985 |title=The Future of Xenix |url=https://archive.org/details/Unix_World_Vol02_10.pdf/page/n21/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=2025-05-17 |magazine=[[UnixWorld]] |pages=20-37}}</ref> His company agreed with [[IBM]] to develop [[OS/2]],<ref name="letwin19950817">{{cite newsgroup |newsgroup=comp.os.ms-windows.misc|url=https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!original/comp.os.ms-windows.misc/-iNeep60eVE/Xl5ddAtJENcJ |title=What's happening to OS/2 |date=August 17, 1995 |access-date=November 6, 2013 |author-last=Letwin |author-first=Gordon |message-id=DDFvKo.G4M@lab.lwpi.com}}</ref> and its Xenix team (together with the best MS-DOS developers){{citation needed|date=August 2019}} was assigned to that project. In 1987, Microsoft transferred ownership of Xenix to SCO in an agreement that left Microsoft owning slightly less than 20% of SCO (this amount prevented both companies from having to disclose the exact amount in the event of an SCO IPO). SCO would acquire both of the other companies that had Xenix rights,<ref name="doug-video"/> [[Logica]]'s software products group in 1986 and HCR in 1990.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gjwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA33 | title=Santa Cruz Operation Ltd. to Offer Source for Xenix | magazine=InfoWorld | date=December 8, 1986 | page=33}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/463861965/?terms=hcr%2B%22santa%2Bcruz%2Boperation%22 | title=California firm acquires Unix-systems leader | agency=Canadian Press | newspaper=The Ottawa Citizen | date=May 10, 1990 | page=H8 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> When Microsoft eventually lost interest{{clarify|date=August 2019}} in OS/2 as well, the company based its further high-end strategy on [[Windows NT]].

In 1987, [[The Santa Cruz Operation|SCO]] ported Xenix to the [[Intel 80386|386]] processor, a [[32-bit]] chip, after securing knowledge from Microsoft insiders that Microsoft was no longer developing Xenix.<ref name="NYT"/> Xenix System V Release 2.3.1 introduced support for i386, [[SCSI]] and [[TCP/IP]]. SCO's Xenix System V/386 was the first 32-bit operating system available on the market for the x86 CPU architecture.

Microsoft continued to use Xenix internally. {{asof|1987}} Xenix handled 60,000 megabytes of email weekly on its [[MS-Net]] network.<ref name="flynn19870223">{{Cite magazine |last=Flynn |first=Laurie |date=1987-02-23 |title=Companywide Network A Necessity at Microsoft |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1DAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA17#v=onepage&q&f=true |access-date=2025-05-21 |magazine=InfoWorld |page=17 |volume=9 |issue=8}}</ref> The company submitted a patch to support functionality in Unix to AT&T that year, which trickled down to the code base of both Xenix and SCO Unix. Microsoft is said to have used Xenix on [[Sun Microsystems|Sun]] workstations and [[VAX]] [[minicomputer]]s extensively within their company as late as 1988.<ref>{{cite newsgroup |title=Re: Microsoft Source (fwd) |author-first=Terry |author-last=Lambert |date=November 7, 2000 |newsgroup=sol.lists.freebsd.chat |message-id=200011062350.QAA25774_usr08.primenet.com@ns.sol.net |url=http://groups.google.com/group/sol.lists.freebsd.chat/msg/96c45193263f1698 |access-date=October 25, 2006}}</ref> All internal Microsoft email transport was done on Xenix-based [[Motorola 68000|68000]] systems until 1995–1996, when the company moved to its own [[Exchange Server]] product.<ref>{{cite web |title=Microsoft's Migration to Microsoft Exchange Server - The Evolution of Messaging within Microsoft Corporation |website=[[Microsoft]] |url=http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/itsolutions/intranet/build/exchgdep.mspx#EGAA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050427212001/http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/itsolutions/intranet/build/exchgdep.mspx#EGAA |archive-date=April 27, 2005}}</ref> Microsoft chairman [[Bill Gates]] said at [[Unix Expo]] in 1996 that, for a long time, Microsoft had the highest-volume AT&T Unix license.<ref>{{cite web |date=October 9, 1996 |title=UNIX Expo — Remarks by Bill Gates |url=http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/speeches/industry&tech/uexpo.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010818203946/http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/speeches/industry&tech/uexpo.asp |archive-date=August 18, 2001 |access-date=September 9, 2013 |website=[[Microsoft]]}}</ref>