[NBLUG/talk] What's the Difference?

[ME]

Edward Mendoza said:
>
> Can someone explain the difference between Red Hat linux, for example, and
> GNU/Linux? If this is a complete operating system then why are people
> still
> using the other distros (other than GNU/Linux)?
>
> I have already read the article by Richard Stallman but I didn't get a
> clear
> picture.

RedHat is a vendor of Linux, much like Debian, SuSE.

GNU is an acronym: "GNU's Not Unix" Plenty of support software for the
Operating System was created as part of a planned (future) kernel (HURD)
for the GNU Software.

GNU Software is included with all of the above mentioned Distributions.

Eahc vendor could call their distributions:
RedHat GNU/Linux, Debian GNU/Linux, and SuSE GNU/Linux. (This is what ESR
wanted to see.)

However, software provided by the various vendors include GNU software
*and* other software, so some argue that a name might be misleading.

GNU has a License, (GPL) and software (GNU Software)

HTH,
-ME