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The Linux distillery Isn't Linux just UNIX under a different name?
The Linux distillery Isn't Linux just UNIX under a different name? | Isn't Linux just UNIX under a different name? |
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| by David M Williams | |
| Thursday, 21 August 2008 | |
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Page 3 of 3 As a result of its free license and open source nature many people even consider there is greater “honesty” around Linux. Linux and the related GNU software are extremely visible. If there is a flaw you can find out all about it before you commit to the technology and not afterwards.Yet, the bulk of UNIX flavours have focused on proprietary hardware or high-end computing architectures. Today you can download a version of Solaris for your desktop computer but it’s still uncommon and most certainly the UNIX vendors don’t sell that as a business solution. A decade ago or more ago it may have been argued that Linux wasn’t ready for prime time in a corporate network due not just to issues of software maturity but the range of supported hardware as well as the performance of that hardware. Yet, with ever-increasing gains in PC hardware the distinction between regular desktops and the so-called high-end proprietary machines is nothing like it used to be. The hardware distinction between Linux and UNIX has faded and incidentally so too has much of the distinction between software. It’s not uncommon or unusual in any way to find proprietary UNIX systems loaded with GNU tools and applications over the vendor-supplied commercial equivalents. Armed with little more than a web browser, an FTP client and the use of the chatty ‘configure’ and omnipresent ‘make’ tools any UNIX machine can be running as much free software as desired. By our modern day, many ideas have flowed between the varying camps, with significant cross fertilisation between Linux, the System V and BSD developers. The distinction as to what makes something “UNIX” in the historical sense of the term has been blurred. I believe Linux passes the duck test as far as being a UNIX variant. It acts like one and it looks like one. The goals of the talented individuals who had the vision to foresee the need for a complete free operating system and set of ancillary apps have been successfully achieved. Yet, the bottom line is Linux is not UNIX. Make no mistake. Linux was not derived from the original program code and it is not subject to any UNIX licensing arrangement (some may say constraint.) In fact, Linux is not legally able to call itself UNIX (and incidentally, neither is BSD anymore.) No, despite the affection long-timers in the industry might have for UNIX there’s no denying Linux has taken on a life of its own and is driving modern development faster than any proprietary team. In a twist of fate, Linux poses a challenge to the mighty Microsoft whose server-based operating systems led pundits to question the viability of UNIX just two decades ago. Linux ain’t UNIX. And in fact Linux has left UNIX behind. The UNIX name has become bogged down with fragmented development and legal battles making it a shell of its former self. Linux is the new UNIX, it alone is the embodiment of the elegant design and hacker spirit that UNIX originally represented.
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