Wheel (computing)

[1][2] The term wheel was first applied to computer user privilege levels after the introduction of the TENEX operating system, later distributed under the name TOPS-20 in the 1960s and early 1970s.

[2][3] The term was derived from the slang phrase big wheel, referring to a person with great power or influence.

[2] Modern Unix systems generally use user groups as a security protocol to control access privileges.

[7] The phrase wheel war, which originated at Stanford University,[8] is a term used in computer culture, first documented in the 1983 version of The Jargon File.

A 'wheel war' was a user conflict in a multi-user (see also: multiseat) computer system, in which students with administrative privileges would attempt to lock each other out of a university's computer system, sometimes causing unintentional harm to other users.