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View Full Version : Why use Unix?



Boomy
April 20th, 2007, 12:50 AM
What advantages does UNIX have over Linux, from an enterprise point of view?

maddog39
April 20th, 2007, 12:54 AM
Umm... well I think I have to clear something up here. There is no "Unix". Unix is just a standard for operating systems. Linux is unix compliant, so is BSD. They are all unix derivatives. So that question is like asking, well what does linux have over linux? Now a better question would be what does BSD have over Linux or visa-versa.

Boomy
April 20th, 2007, 12:57 AM
Why would one use Solaris or BSDs over Linux?

tbroderick
April 20th, 2007, 01:16 AM
Cause one wants to. Or one likes the BSD license better then the GPL. Or one wants support from Sun.

forcesofhabit
April 20th, 2007, 01:22 AM
If we're talking BSD over Linux. I must say PC-BSD has come a long way, and I can see my self switching over in the future if the OS keeps going in the right direction.

It's just a matter of choice.

Rhapsody
April 20th, 2007, 01:34 AM
Umm... well I think I have to clear something up here. There is no "Unix". Unix is just a standard for operating systems. Linux is unix compliant, so is BSD. They are all unix derivatives. So that question is like asking, well what does linux have over linux? Now a better question would be what does BSD have over Linux or visa-versa.

Actually, no. The term "UNIX" (all in capital letters) is trademarked by The Open Group (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Group), and any operating system must abide by the Single UNIX Specification (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_UNIX_Specification) in order to be called a UNIX. The various Linux distros and BSDs typically don't even try for SUS compliance, since doing that is expensive and would need re-doing for each new version. Such systems are referred to as 'Unix-like' instead.

Additionally, while the BSDs can be traced back to the original Unix as created by Bell labs, GNU/Linux is not directly derived from any version of Unix. SCO would have a much better case if it were.

mips
April 20th, 2007, 01:44 AM
Umm... well I think I have to clear something up here. There is no "Unix". Unix is just a standard for operating systems. Linux is unix compliant, so is BSD. They are all unix derivatives. So that question is like asking, well what does linux have over linux? Now a better question would be what does BSD have over Linux or visa-versa.

Are you not confusing it Unix compliant with POSIX compliant ???

Unix and Linux are similar but not the same. Unix is usually the entire OS where Linux is just a kernel. There are several Unix' (Solaris, AIX, HP-UX etc) out there and Linux aint one and never will be.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux

Boomy
April 20th, 2007, 04:27 AM
Thanks for clarifying that Rhapsody. I was thinking that Linux was different than UNIX, and that maddog's post was completely pedantic.