[linux-audio-user] Linux and Standards

[Jan Depner]

On Mon, 2004-11-01 at 05:16, tim hall wrote:
> Semantic point: I don't think we should really be talking of Linux as a 
> 'Standard'. Wouldn't it be more correct to talk about a subset of GNU 
> standards used by multimedia applications based on Linux? OK, I know that's a 
> bit of a mouthful. Linux is not an OS. I think we need to ground a 
> standardised term here.
> 
	Linux *is* an operating system.  In the same manner that UNIX is an
operating system, and VMS, VOS, OS-360, Exec-8, and others were
operating systems.  What you are talking about are distributions of
software.  Look up operating system in any encyclopedia and you will
find that the related software (all of the GNU stuff) is not part of the
operating system.  As the webopedia says:

"Operating systems provide a software platform on top of which other
programs, called application programs, can run."

No disrespect intended to Richard Stallman and the GNU crowd.  The OS
wouldn't exist without those tools but the tools are not part of the
OS.  They are merely applications that are bundled in with the
distribution.

Given the more widely accepted definition of an operating system I think
it is perfectly acceptable to speak of Linux as a standard.

Jan