Origin Systems Incorporated

Origin Systems Incorporated, also commonly called OSI for short, was the name of the Austin, Texas-based company that created and released Ultima Online in September, 1997.

Founded in 1983 by Richard Garriott(aka Lord British), his brother Robert and their father Owen Garriott(who was an astronaut), Origin Systems had several popular game titles throughout the 1980's and 90's, including the Ultima and Wing Commander series of games.

OSI was acquired Electronic Arts in September 1992. This made OSI a subsidiary, or studio, of Electronic Arts.

Electronic Arts disbanded OSI in 2004. As a result, some highly anticipated games such as Privateer Online, Harry Potter Online and Ultima X: Odyssey never saw the light of day.

For more information, see here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_Systems

though of course remember that the Wikipedia, like UO Guide, can be edited by anyone, at any time, for any reason.