On Wed, Dec 13, 2000 at 01:46:53PM +0200, Boaz Rymland wrote: > Tzafrir Cohen wrote: > > > > With the current amount of differences between various linux distros, > > calling each of them "operting system" is more correct. > > I wouldn't join your terminology. > IMO, > * Linux is the Operating system brand, > * RedHat,Debian are distributions, meaning a typical, not identical to other, > type of Linux. They differ in numerous minor/less minor ways. Each dirto' is > like a special flavour of Linux. > > I wouldn't call each distro a different OS. They are all able to run the same > binaries (true they are packaged differently, but this is just the *package*, > not the content), and they simply share much more than they differ, if you look > at the whole computers OS world, not only at the Linux world. But Linux is not a brand. Most of the Linux-based distributions include the Linux kernel as it is, or with relatively negligible changes. Linus has neither the power nor the desire to influence "userland" applications. It is Red Hat, Debian etc who brand the complete systems. So I would not say Linux is a single operating system, but a family of operating systems, because there's no OS you can point at and say "this is the original Linux", unlike Unix or BSD. ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
