On Thu, 2008-07-17 at 09:45 -0700, Gordon Messmer wrote: > John Cornelius wrote: > > This discussion is becoming both increasingly religious and somewhat > > oblique in its depictions of the elements under discussion. It may be > > instructive to review the classic definitions of some of these elements > > in order to clarify in the minds of zealots from the several sides of > > the discussion and thereby promote a more rational discussion. > > Can you cite any consensus based definition of "operating system" other > than what you've provided? I think that the POSIX specification is > generally agreed to be the definition of one operating system interface, > and it includes the shells, editors, compilers, etc that you've decided > aren't part of an operating system. > > That's what we're getting at. GNU/Linux is an operating system. Linux > is one of the kernels that GNU *can* use, and one of the most common > that it does. > > > GNU is not an operating system it is, and as far as I know always has > > been, a tool kit that is platform and operating system independent. > > I think that the GNU developers disagree with you. What makes your > opinion more valid than theirs? > > > GNU is not Linux and Linux is not GNU, it's just an evolution of a > > movement started by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie nearly 40 years ago. > > > > Whoda thunk? > > I think you're giving Ken and Dennis too much credit. As far as I > understand it, Unix was only distributed free of charge because ATT was > concerned that its monopoly status prevented it from entering new > markets. Look at Plan 9. Free Software? Nope. > > GNU modeled its operating system after Unix because it was a common > system, not because there was any particular sharing of ideals or goals. > The US government paid for the development of UNIX. That was the original source of its being "free". The people of the US owned it. I got that from some folks very close to the source. -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
