Major Differences between Unix and Linux?

[mamamia88]

I've been doing a lot of reading about unix and linux and from what i can acertain the only major difference is that for an os to qualify as unix a bunch of money has to be paid to the copyright holder of unix. Am i missing something? Or are there other major differences?

[mips]

You pretty much summed it up wrt to the money/certification part. There are some minor differences but nothing earth shattering.

I don't know of any of the linuxes or bsds that are willing to fork out the money for certification and you have to do it for every single release you do so it's a ongoing expense.

[ssam]

from a practical point of view Linux (and the BSDs) are a UNIX compatible systems. software written to run on standard UNIX will work on LINUX.

[BeRoot ReBoot]

UNIX isn't an operating system, it's a specification. You can pay to get an official certificate saying that your operating system is a UNIX (which is to say, it meets the specification), which, for example, Mac OS, Solaris, etc did. Or, you can just build an OS that meets the specification without paying for it, like BSD and GNU/Linux. Solaris and other certified operating systems are Unices (plural of "UNIX"), while BSD and GNU/Linux are said to be "UNIX-like" despite de facto conforming to the specification.

[forrestcupp]

One thing to remember is that Linux is a loose clone of Minix, not Unix. Linux is not even totally POSIX compliant. They go by the Linux Standard Base instead of POSIX. So I think that technically, Linux is in a different class than Unix, and they're just similar. You can't always compile Unix software for Linux and expect it to just work without tweaking it.

You can take what the BSD people say about the difference between Linux and BSD. They say, “BSD is what you get when a bunch of UNIX hackers sit down to try to port a UNIX system to the PC. Linux is what you get when a bunch of PC hackers sit down and try to write a UNIX system for the PC.” Linus actually sat down and tried to write a Minix system for the PC, which is a derivative of Unix.

[litiform]

Unix kept getting more and more commercialized and encumbered with patents and stuff.

[Jakin]

How i see it:

Unix = Proprietary everything, from its kernel to its drivers, and much of the software. Usually very stable; Funded to be so.

Linux = not so much proprietary driver support, a kernel that trys to fit all. Resulting in a system that maynot be as stable as UNIX. Certainly doesn't have the funding that a designated UNIX system would.

Collectively the "UNIX family".

Most all OS around us are of the Unix family......... windows is the oddball, but still funded, having much better proprietary support.... Funds, Funds... Funds......