lkml.org 
[lkml]   [1996]   [Mar]   [6]   [last100]   RSS Feed
Views: [more markup]  [less markup]  [headers]  [forward] 
 
Messages in this thread
/
DateWed, 6 Mar 1996 00:31:29 -0500 (EST)
FromGary Anderson <>
SubjectRe: Linux isn't an operating system
On Tue, 5 Mar 1996, Richard Stallman wrote:

> Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1996 22:37:28 -0500
> From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu>
> To: ganderson@clark.net
> Cc: linux-misc@vger.rutgers.edu, linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu
> Subject: Linux isn't an operating system
> 
>     on NASA TV last week indicate that computers running under the Linux
>     operating system are being used on STS-75.  Linux is powerful 32-bit
>     multiuser, multitasking operating system similar to Unix in many ways
>     except cost and licensing....
> 
>     Linux was designed a few short years ago by Linus Torvalds, a graduate...
> 
> This article makes a common mistake: confusing the whole operating
> system with the kernel.  Linus Torvalds wrote the kernel, Linux.  A
> whole operating systems consists of Linux and many other programs,
> which were written by a great many people.
> 
> There are a number of whole operating systems using the Linux kernel,
> Most of them are more or less close variants of the GNU system, so I
> recommend the term "Linux-based GNU system" for them.
> 
> I'm going to talk to the author of the article about this distinction.
> 
> 

Well, I suppose we can talk semantics till the cows come home.  I just 
thought the rest of the Linux community, as a whole, would find the 
ariticle interesting.  Perhaps a few others felt as I did, and uttered a 
quiet "YES !!", in a sense of pride at what has been accomplished by 
literally hundreds, or thousands of us, and Linus in particular.  I 
wasn't terribly concerned about the semantic distinction.

Gary Anderson
ganderson@clark.net


\
 
 \ /
  Last update: 2005-03-22 13:36    [from the cache]
©2003-2008