On 13 Dec 2000, Oleg Goldshmidt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 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.
Hmmmm....I have to wonder, do you think RMS is a layman? When RMS
set out to write an operating system, he wanted something that
people can sit on a computer running the GNU OS, and work with.
That means editors, and compilers, and debuggers (EMACS, GCC and GDB),
and in this day an age means graphical environment (X, Gtk+, GNOME).
All those are part of a vision that RMS started in the '80s: the
GNU OS. Debian, in many ways, is the realization of that dream.
> 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 :).
It is my firm belief that this course should simply be named "Kernel"s.
But yes, this is what studied in CS. But even when UNIX was originally
written things like troff were considered an integral part. Have a look
at the *BSDs: all of them consist of a lot of userland applications
too.
> My personal bias is that not only KDE or GNOME, but X, emacs, even ed
> or find are not parts of UNIX
Well, Kernigan & Pike disagree with you: there's a chapter about ed
in "The UNIX Programming Environment". So while I'm not saying whether
you're right or wrong, you'd have to argue with the people who wrote
UNIX to defend your position. <wink>
> or Linux.
Linux is a kernel, so nothing can be part of Linux except maybe kernel
modules.
--
Moshe Zadka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
This is a signature anti-virus.
Please stop the spread of signature viruses!
=================================================================
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]
