Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Unix conspiracy
     
        [ITS] According to a conspiracy theory long popular among
        {ITS} and {TOPS-20} fans, Unix's growth is the result of a
        plot, hatched during the 1970s at Bell Labs, whose intent was
        to hobble AT&T's competitors by making them dependent upon a
        system whose future evolution was to be under AT&T's control.
        This would be accomplished by disseminating an operating
        system that is apparently inexpensive and easily portable, but
        also relatively unreliable and insecure (so as to require
        continuing upgrades from AT&T).  This theory was lent a
        substantial impetus in 1984 by the paper referenced in the
        {back door} entry.
     
        In this view, Unix was designed to be one of the first
        computer viruses (see {virus}) - but a virus spread to
        computers indirectly by people and market forces, rather than
        directly through disks and networks.  Adherents of this "Unix
        virus" theory like to cite the fact that the well-known
        quotation "Unix is snake oil" was uttered by DEC president
        Kenneth Olsen shortly before DEC began actively promoting its
        own family of Unix workstations.  (Olsen now claims to have
        been misquoted.)