Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

Joy, Bill 261Business_to_Business/Computers/Industry_Information/Trade_Magazines/. Accessed August 11, 2007.“Tag: Computer Industry” [blogs]. Available online. URL: http://it.wordpress.com/tag/computer-industry. Accessed August11, 2007.“Top 100 Computer and Software Magazines.” Available online.URL: http://netvalley.com/top100mag.html. Accessed August11, 2007.ZDNET. Available online. URL: http://www.zdnet.com. AccessedAugust 11, 2007.Joy, Bill(1955– )AmericanSoftware Engineer, EntrepreneurBill Joy developed many of the key utilities used by usersand programmers on UNIX systems (see unix). He thenbecame one of the industry’s leading entrepreneurs andlater, a critic of some aspects of computer technology.As a graduate student in computer science and electricalengineering at the University of California at Berkeley inthe 1970s, Joy worked with UNIX designer Ken Thompson(1943– ) to add features such as virtual memory (paging)and TCP/IP networking support to the operating system(the latter work was sponsored by DARPA, the DefenseAdvanced Research Projects Agency). These developmenteventually led to the distribution of a distinctive version ofUNIX called Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), whichrivaled the original version developed at AT&T’s Bell Laboratories.The BSD system also popularized features such asthe C shell (a command processor) and the text editors “ex”and “vi.” (See shell.)As opposed to the tightly controlled AT&T version,BSD UNIX development relied upon what would becomeknown as the open-source model of software development(see open-source movement). This encouraged programmersat many installations to create new utilities for theoperating system, which would then be reviewed and integratedby Joy and his colleagues. BSD UNIX gained industryacceptance and was adopted by the Digital EquipmentCorporation (DEC), makers of the popular VAX series ofminicomputers.In 1982, Joy left UC Berkeley and co-founded Sun Microsystems,a company that became a leader in the manufactureof high-performance UNIX-based workstations forscientists, engineers, and other demanding users. Evenwhile becoming a corporate leader, he continued to refineUNIX operating system facilities, developing the NetworkFile System (NFS), which was then licensed for use not onlyon UNIX systems but on VMS, PC-DOS, and Macintoshsystems. Joy’s versatility also extended to hardware design,where he helped create the Sun SPARC reduced instructionset (RISC) microprocessor that gave Sun workstations muchof their power.In the early 1990s, Joy turned to the growing world ofInternet applications and embraced Java, a programminglanguage created by James Gosling (see Java). He developedspecifications, processor instruction sets, and marketingplans. Java became a very successful platform forbuilding applications to run on Web servers and browsersand to support the needs of e-commerce. As Sun’s chiefscientist since 1998, Joy has led the development of Jini,a facility that would allow not just PCs but many other“Java-enabled” devices such as appliances and cell phonesto communicate with one another.Recently, however, Joy has expressed serious misgivingsabout the future impact of artificial intelligence and relateddevelopments on the future of humanity. Joy remains proudof the achievements of a field to which he has contributedmuch. However, while rejecting the violent approachof extremists such as Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski,Joy points to the potentially devastating unforeseen consequencesof the rapidly developing capabilities of computers.Unlike his colleague Ray Kurzweil’s optimistic viewsabout the coexistence of humans and sentient machines,Joy points to the history of biological evolution and suggeststhat superior artificial life forms will displace humansBill Joy made key contributions to the Berkeley Software Distribution(BSD) version of UNIX, including developing its NetworkFile System (NFS). As a cofounder of Sun Microsystems, Joy thenhelped develop innovative workstations and promoted Java asa major language for developing Web applications. (Bill Joy,Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers)