"Skunkworks" has long been used to denote underground special projects and engineering efforts not fully controlled by mainstream market demand. In an article in the June 1990 Analog magazine, G. Harry Stine wrote
"Over the past 30 years, "skunk works" has been applied facetiously to describe an engineering operation ... with a limited number of workers operating with very loose procedures to attain a very difficult goal. The objective of a skunk works was to get a specific job done quickly and often in a clandestine manner. Never mind procurement regulations. Never mind contract hassles. If something was needed, it was purchased or built. No security walls or sacred turf existed within a skunk works. ... The purpose was simple : Just get the damned job done !"
According to Ben Rich in the book SKUNK WORKS, the term Skunkworks originated as a reference to the Skonk Works in Al Capp's Lil' Abner comic strip. Later, some engineers at Lockheed referred to their lab as the Skunk Works and the name stuck. Apparently there was some legal shmegal kinda fooforah and Lockheed trademarked "Skunk Works" (i think Al Capp's estate owns the term "Skonk Works"). Well, SCO has trademarked "Skunkware" and we acknowledge our roots.
Skunkwork teams generally disdain beaurocracy and authority figures. They seem to work without project plans, executives, top-heavy management or excessive waste. They are typically un-funded or under-funded week-end and night-time operations scavenging for resources and raw materials. Paradoxically, Skunkworks projects seem to always come in on schedule and under-budget.
That being said, the SCO Skunkworks team would like to thank SCO, the SCO executives, beaurocrats, marketing folks, sales staff, management, and SCO Skunkware contributors for their support and understanding. SCO has allowed us to produce this without hindrance. Various departments contributed resources and even money from their budgets. SCO distributes this for free without even charging for shipping/handling/media costs. That is pretty cool.
Perhaps the most magnificent and widely publicized achievement by a Skunkworks team was the design, engineering and production of the first Stealth Bomber (F-117) pictured above. This was accomplished by the formerly top-secret Lockheed Skunkworks recently documented in the book SKUNK WORKS and on CBS 60 Minutes.
Even NASA has the following Skunkworks Logo present on the Modis Airborne Simulator (MAS) carried by the ER-2 :
The MAS takes photos like this one :
With internet access you can view a gallery of such images.
In keeping with this tradition, SCO is pleased to acknowledge the contributions of many technical professionals in the computing community in bringing you this collection of interesting software. These programs are provided for entertainment, education, and experimentation, possibly even real work.
This HTML document created and maintained by
Ronald Joe Record (rr@sco.com)
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