Re: Is Linux Unix?

[gnalle@ruc.dk (Niels L. Ellegaard)]

John L Fjellstad <john-debian@fjellstad.org> writes:

> Is there a semantic difference between being like something or a
> clone of something, and being that thing in the English language?
> 
> I'm just thinking of the statement, GNU's Not Unix.  Does that mean
> that GNU/Linux is a OS with unix like functionality, kinda like
> Windows with Service For Unix, or OS/2 with its POSIX layer, or is
> GNU/Linux an unix.
> 
> Kinda like, Kleenex is both a brand of tissue and the generic name for
> tissues.  Is the same true for unix?

The name Unix is registered trademark in the US and probably also in
many other countries. This means that it is not automatically legal to
refer to an operative system as a Unix while trying to sell it in the
US. This trademark is the reason why the term Unix is not used to
describe Linux distributions.

I believe that Linux is as similar to the average Unix system, as the
average Unix system is similar to other Unix systems.

                        Niels

PS: I hope to be corrected if I have misunderstood.