“What is Linux? Look deeper and beyond your immediate answer.
Linux is not the latest tweaked out Enlightenment window manger or
your Helix GNOME desktop. Linux is not your bash shell. Linux is
not your 50K .vimrc. Linux is not your C compiler. Linux is not
your /etc or /dev directories. Linux is not even the kernel.”
“Linux is a virus. Linux is a mental virus which exhibits
emergent behavior on a scale of millions. Don’t believe it? Show me
Linux. Point to exactly what it is. I already told you it isn’t a
kernel, and it isn’t an operating system either.”
“I can tell you still want to tell me that Linux is ultimately a
kernel. I counter that the kernel is nothing but C and assembly
source code, then I tell you that Linux is not source code either.
Perhaps you say, “you are just being semantically picky; source
code is the instructions for building a kernel, whose job is to
talk to the hardware and manage programs.”
Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.
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