this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I get your point, but the guy you quoted also has a point. For a non-techy person it's really hard to understand the boundary of the OS, so where the OS ends and Apps begin. And tbh, even to a techy person, there isn't really a hard border there.
For example: Is the DWM part of the OS? On Windows, definitely. It's not the kernel, but it is the OS. You cannot remove or replace it.
On Linux, maybe, maybe not. It's definitely part of the Distro, but you can replace it. But on the other hand, on Linux you can even replace the kernel if you really want to. So maybe replaceability is not the criterium? But if it isn't, wouldn't that make everything that came in the distro part of the OS?
On Windows, that's kinda the case, with e.g. Edge being an integral, non-replaceable part of the OS.
And then you get into the territory of the "Linux is only the kernel" purists, that follow Stallmans fever dreams. They might say, Linux isn't actually an OS at all.
And at the latest once Stallman's speech has been quoted will anyone who is not a hardcore Linux philosopher say "Screw you guys, there is no point to this".