The comment about NT and *nix - that was based on my memory of press reports at the time it was being developed. If I recall correctly they originally wanted to do a green field system and then found that they had to borrow certain parts of the *nix architecture - what exactly I don't remember. I know many of the developers came from DEC, but the few things I'm finding on the web focus on the VMS influence. Business press reports on technology often get it wrong, so I might be remembering someone reporting the DEC hirings and just assuming it was DEC UNIX rather than VMS that ended up in NT.