[ale] Vista vs Linux

[Michael B. Trausch]

On Tue, 2007-03-27 at 14:19 -0400, Step wrote:

> I guess interpretation of my statement depends on whether you consider
> many distros using the same kernel and/or similar packages to be "one
> OS".  Either way, were it based on free and open standards I find it
> hard to believe one OS could ever own 90% marketshare - that is really
> only possible in the computer world through unethical and proprietary
> means (ahem *microsoft*), since one size most definitely does NOT fit
> all.


If you talk to Richard Stallman, he will tell you that the Linux kernel
+ the GNU userland is the GNU/Linux operating system.  That definition
makes little sense to me.  While it might be impractical to use another
userland for Linux systems, it is certainly possible to do.  If you ask
me, the operating system is the component that the userland talks
to--the privileged part, that manages memory and resources.  You can
change userlands and still be using the same operating system, but if
you change kernels, the userland will act differently, because of the
fact that the way the resources are managed changes by default.  So, I
would say that all of the distributions of Linux are one operating
system; the same goes for the other open systems out there.  The only
difference between Linux and the other free systems is that the other
free systems (for the most part) maintain their own base userland, as
well.

And I must say that I agree with you.  Every system has its niche that
it performs exceptionally well at.  After all, there would really be no
point in there being different systems if there were nothing actually
different about them.  :-)

    -- Mike

--
Michael B. Trausch
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Phone: (404) 592-5746
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Demand Freedom!  Use open and free protocols, standards, and software!
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