On Wed, Dec 13, 2000 at 03:51:26PM +0200, Oleg Goldshmidt wrote:
> Adi Stav <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> > But Linux is not a brand.
>
> No, it isn't. Neither is UNIX. Nor are BSD or SysV. Red Hat is. HP/UX
> is. What has it got to do with OS?
Why aren't they? Unix, BSD and SysV are/were actual branded OSs that
were sold under that brand, no less than Red Hat or HP/UX are now.
> > 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.
>
> I suggest that you guys agree on the definitions of "OS", "Desktop
> Environment", "Application" etc. It seems to me that the layman's (no
> Adi, I don't mean you, don't jump :) understanding of the term OS is
> stroingly influenced by the notion of a "Windows Operating System"
> that includes the whole preinstalled package. Many components of that
> package (and of Linux distros) rightfully belong to the "Applications"
> category, I believe. From a more professional/CS point of view, in the
> "Operating Systems" course students study Linux the Kernel, I imagine
> (those who took an OS course please correct me if I am wrong :).
>
> My personal bias is that not only KDE or GNOME, but X, emacs, even ed
> or find are not parts of UNIX or Linux. Call them environments,
> applications, utilities, tools as appropriate. To support this point
> of view here's http://info.astrian.net/jargon/terms/o.html#operating_system
I agree Oleg, the traditional definition makes more sense nowdays. But
the term "operating system" meaning a complete and branded software
system has become far too common by now, so I don't really mind
it. It's not only laymen who use this definition anymore, and since
there's an easy word to replace the original meaning of OS ("kernel"),
I don't usually make a fuss over it.
But whichever definition you choose, saying that Red Hat is a variant
of Linux is not more true than saying that a Compaq PC is a variant of
Intel's Pentium. I see these definitions all the time in the trade and
mainstream media and I think that this is one of the reasons why
outsiders often think that Linux is in the process of a disasterous
fork. (You don't see the PC forking anytime soon, do you :)
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