here is a paragraph from the microsoft 2004 annual report

[Monty J. Harder]

"D. Joe" <kclug at etrumeus.com> wrote:

> Also, they screw-up (whether intentionally, or out of negligent
> ignorance) the difference between non-proprietary and
> non-commercial; as well as calling Linux an "operating system"
> rather than a kernel.  And, they don't acknowledge at all that

  I'll go further.  Linux isn't even 'a' kernel.  It's a toolkit that allows
someone to build a kernel, around which an operating system can be
constructed.  That's why we have Debian, Fedora, Slackware, Gentoo, and
variations thereof.

  And just like everything else about Linux, it's in keeping with, and in
many cases an extension of, the design philosophy of Unix.  Unix was
supposed to be a very minimalist OS, under the theory that more complicated
things could be done at higher levels.  That's why we have the notion that X
is separate from *nix itself, and window managers, desktop environments,
etc. galore.  Call it 'forking' if you want, but I call it healthy
competition, which allows SOME combination of all these components to be
optimal for any particular situation.  And companies like Red Hat, IBM, and
Novell are showing the corporate world that this works better than the
status quo.  The only thing slowing it down is inertia, which, as Newton
pointed out, goes both ways.  Unless some legal shenanigans (software
patents, required 'trusted' platform, etc.) can be concocted to derail the
momentum, it's going to happen.

  And because Linux is so many different things, it will assimilate the
better ideas that come along, and improve from within.  Precisely because
it's about empowering people to use what's best for them, as long as those
ideas are allowed within Linux, nothing else outside it can be better.



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