From owner-freebsd-questions Thu Feb 25 2:51: 5 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from alpha.comkey.com.au (alpha.comkey.com.au [203.9.152.215]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 9EA9414D6A for ; Thu, 25 Feb 1999 02:50:46 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from gjb@comkey.com.au) Received: (qmail 27896 invoked by uid 1001); 25 Feb 1999 08:40:00 -0000 Message-ID: <19990225084000.27895.qmail@alpha.comkey.com.au> X-Posted-By: GBA-Post 1.04 06-Feb-1999 X-PGP-Fingerprint: 5A91 6942 8CEA 9DAB B95B C249 1CE1 493B 2B5A CE30 Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 18:40:00 +1000 From: Greg Black To: Gregory Sutter Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Generic Unix term? References: <19990223200542.L27934@orcrist.mediacity.com> <19990224175048.A10277@austin.rr.com> <19990224155800.O27934@orcrist.mediacity.com> In-reply-to: <19990224155800.O27934@orcrist.mediacity.com> of Wed, 24 Feb 1999 15:58:00 PST Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > > --> There's BSD, Linux, AIX, SCO, Solaris, Citrix, etc, but is there a > > --> single, non-copyrighted, non-trademarked term describing all systems > > --> that are based on or function like Unix? > > > > I have seen *nix used a lot. BTW isn't Citrix an NT vendor a la winframe?? > > *nix isn't a word, though. I am looking for something that can be > spoken as well as written, and "Starnix" or "Asterisknix" just doesn't > cut it. There is a perfectly good word: Unix. It doesn't describe any actual product now (since the products all have names like the ones in the list above), and it can't seriously be claimed to belong to anybody any longer (although I'm certain that some noddies somewhere think they "own" it). For my money, Unix is a fine generic term that describes a whole family of OSes either directly derived from the work of Thomson and Ritchie and Co or based on the ideas they originated. Naturally, if you're looking for some term that can be used in some situation where legal niceties might matter, then you'll have to wrap it up in some fluff like "Unix-like" ... -- Greg Black To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message