IRIX is an acronym standing for "Interactive Real-time Information eXchange". It refers to a discontinued operating system developed and utilized exclusively by Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI), a now-defunct computer hardware and software company. IRIX was primarily designed for SGI's line of high-performance graphics workstations and servers, known for their advanced 3D graphics capabilities.
IRIX was built on the UNIX platform, incorporating various features and enhancements specific to SGI's hardware architecture. It provided a graphical user interface (GUI) and supported numerous programming languages, including C and C++. The operating system, known for its stability and reliability, offered robust networking capabilities, making it suitable for large-scale scientific, engineering, and visualization applications.
IRIX included advanced graphics libraries and toolkits that allowed developers to create visually stunning applications, making it particularly popular in industries such as computer-aided design (CAD), animation, and special effects. It supported X Window System, allowing users to run X applications in parallel with native IRIX applications.
Despite its popularity and technical prowess, the emergence of more affordable and powerful hardware, coupled with the rise of alternative operating systems such as Linux, led to the decline of IRIX. SGI transitioned to using Linux as its primary operating system, eventually discontinuing IRIX in 2006.
