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0 pointsleobelle12y ago0 comments

How is Android "not really a Linux ? It runs the Linux kernel. That means it's Linux. No, it's not a distribution of GNU/Linux, but it's a Linux kernel. It's really using Linux. It's as Linux as Ubuntu, as Ubuntu also runs on a Linux kernel.

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pessimizer12y ago

Why would anybody have cared about Linux except as an academic exercise if not for GNU? If there had been another properly licensed kernel before Linux, we would all be using GNU bolted on top of that.

Linux has been great and Linus is a great steward, but Linux without GNU is a base for creating an OS, not an OS.

RyanZAG12y ago

I really like GNU, but are you sure that it is GNU that has succeeded and not Linux?

Linux + GNU = small marketshare

Linux + Android = big marketshare

So maybe without GNU, Linux would have gotten some other userland quicker and taken off faster? I don't think it's entirely fair to credit Linux's success to GNU at this point.

sesqu12y ago

What other userland? Without GNU, Linux might never have even gotten written.

dvogel12y ago

Apples to oranges. Those markets have different dynamics, gatekeepers, legacy costs, etc.

pjmlp12y ago

> If there had been another properly licensed kernel before Linux, we would all be using GNU bolted on top of that.

BSD?

sampo12y ago

BSD was is a legal limbo between 1992–1994, and by then Linux had gained more popularity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USL_v._BSDi

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