*nix or not *nix

[cmay]

i have been wondering about one little thing for some time now. when i read books about unix and i use solaris or open-solaris some variant of bsd i managed to install minix or ubuntu /debian i do not see that much difference as a casual user which i am. so i wonder if linux could /maybe should be called unix system. to me it looks like a unix works like a unix . bsd and solaris which i also use is unixes so far i know, so i have no sleepless nights over them for trying to figure out what to call them or not to call them. on the ohter hand the unix systems i do have installed looks like linux and maybe there are other unix systems that i do not know that looks and works much more different than what i have experience with.
i hope this is not a dumb question (i do not like to be the one to ask dumb questions) but it has just been something i been googling for the answer for a while with out any other result than more questions than answers.

thanks for your time.

[SunnyRabbiera]

Well in the case of Linux yes it shares many commands and the same durability of pure unix, but it is a unix clone and not tied into the Unix bloodline and neither is Minix.
Currently the only operating system still in wide use that I know about that is tied to the unix bloodline is BSD, as BSD is as close to the real thing you can get without paying the unix fee.
But even BSD is not labeled "true unix", nothing really is unless its apple's OSX but they cheat because they can buy the unix certification

[croniksoft]

Yes,Linux is a Unix clone and they share most of the commands, Other OS that are still consider Unix are Solaris, BSD and MAC OS X....

Here is a like that can help you out

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

[cmay]

http://www.unix.org/what_is_unix/flavors_of_unix.html
this is the page i ponder about. how come these are not and these are unix. other than someone paid for the brand name. this is a bit confusing to find my way around in . honest i cant see what makes the system unix other than it should conform to this standard which all the systems i have do more or less. there is a difference in installing and package manager from rpm based linux distro to deb.based linux distro and free bsd to pc-bsd and from open-solaris to solaris there is a more wide difference but once it is all set up it works pretty much the same. if i buy a macintosh with leopard installed will that be sort of like linux or solaris ?. anohter question is could a linux distro like suse or ubuntu pay for the license and be a unix like mac ?

EDIT:
danish wikipedia link
not all the things is mentioned in dept
http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix
some questions raises i cant find answers to .

[SunnyRabbiera]

The definition of true unix has actually became blurred over the years, the information on that page is actually very outdated in the current scheme.
I say ignore that page, it only confuses people on where the bloodlines of "true unix" lay in current times.
Currently the only systems that are still active on a regular basis that are on that page are:
Solaris
BSD
thats pretty much it, SCO has given up the ghost as has the others though in the future it does sort of look like HP-UX will return in a new form due to HP's plans to make its own OS again.
But Apple OSX now is officially Unix, because Unix is more of a license now then an actual OS.
Sure Unix still exists in its original form but its so out of touch with how technology is today.

Here is a better chart:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Unix_history-simple.svg
WARNING:
its kind of big you may wish to save the image so it wont slug down your browser

[cmay]

But Apple OSX now is officially Unix, because Unix is more of a license now then an actual OS.
Sure Unix still exists in its original form but its so out of touch with how technology is today.actually that was sort of the question i ment to ask. since the danish wikipedia which by the way is grown since last time i read that article tells something about a court settlement that made it possible to distribute unix i was under the impression that unix was /is a license for an OS that could not be legally distibuted by bell labs so in order to get a unix a school or company could obtain the license. which i can see is not exactly the right way to try understand it. i am also pretty tired today but i thought i would ask anyway hoping i could avoid asking to dump a question :)
thanks for the links.

[SunnyRabbiera]

actually that was sort of the question i ment to ask. since the danish wikipedia which by the way is grown since last time i read that article tells something about a court settlement that made it possible to distribute unix i was under the impression that unix was /is a license for an OS that could not be legally distibuted by bell labs so in order to get a unix a school or company could obtain the license. which i can see is not exactly the right way to try understand it. i am also pretty tired today but i thought i would ask anyway hoping i could avoid asking to dump a question :)
thanks for the links.

yeh you can get unix and unix certification but at great price.
As for bell labs it doesnt really exist anymore, in fact practically none of the original unix owners really exist anymore though there are holders of the name though.