what is the difference between unix and linux?

1 ANSWERS

1. Guest993
   

   UNIX is copyrighted name Only big companies are allowed to use the UNIX copyright and name, so IBM AIX and Sun Solaris and HP-UX all are UNIX. The Open Group holds the UNIX trademark in trust for the industry, and manages the UNIX trademark licensing program.
   
   Linux is UNIX clone
   But if you consider Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) standards then Linux can be considered as UNIX. To quote from Official Linux kernel README file:
   Linux is a Unix clone written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across the Net. It aims towards POSIX compliance.
   
   
   Linux is just kernel
   Linux is just kernel. Linux distribution includes GUI system, installation and management tools, compilers, editors etc. Linux distribution makes it
   
   Most UNIX oses considered as compete operating system.
   
   As I said earlier Linux is just kernel with Linux distribution makes it complete usable os. Most UNIX oses comes with A-Z programs such as editor, compilers etc. For example FreeBSD comes with A-Z programs.
   
   License and cost
   Linux is Free (as in beer [freedom]). You will see best community support around. Many UNIX oses are not free (but this is changing fast, for example OpenSolaris/Solaris UNIX).
   
   User-friendly
   Linux is considered as most user friendly UNIX like os. It makes easy to install sound card, flash players, and other desktop goodies.
   
   End user perspective
   The differences are not that big for the average end user.
   
   System administrator perspective
   Again, the differences are not that big for the system administrator. However, you may notice difference while performing following operations:
   
   Installation procedure
   Hardware Device names
   Admin commands or utilities

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