UNIX is a portable, multi-tasking and multi-user computer
operating system originally developed by a group of AT&T Bell
Labs employees including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and
Douglas McIlroy. In the 1960s, the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, AT&T Bell Labs, and General Electric worked on an
experimental operating system called Multics (Multiplexed
Information and Computing System), which was designed to run on
the GE-645 mainframe computer. The aim was the creation of an
interactive operating system with many novel capabilities,
including enhanced security. The project did develop production
releases, but initially these releases turned out to have poor
performance. AT&T Bell Labs pulled out and deployed its
resources elsewhere. One of the developers on the Bell Labs
team, Ken Thompson, continued to develop for the GE-645
mainframe, and wrote a game for the computer called Space
Travel. However, he found that the game was slow on the GE
machine and was costly, apparently costing $75 per go in scarce