[GRLUG] What is Linux ?

[Al Tobey]

On 3/23/07, Bob Kline <bob.kline at gmail.com> wrote:
> Just an out of the way discussion item:
> what is Linux?
>
> We are a LUG,  which in a funny way
> means that as long as you use Linux,
> you are free to discuss anything under
> the sun.
>
> But of course few here will see it that
> way.  What the GRLUG mostly discusses
> are Linux applications,  and less so the
> Linux OS itself.  And Linux applications
> are often as not Linux versions of a
> package,  and except for shared experience
>  have little to do with Linux as an OS.
>
> So,  what part of a typical Linux distribution
> would people call the Linux OS?   Here too,
> it's not the endless little editors and the myriad
> of GNU tools.
>
> Just for fun,  what does "Linux" mean
> to people here?  An analog to the question
> is "what is the Internet?"  Many people
> would probably confuse that with their
> browser.

Good idea for discussion, Bob.  I've been thinking for a while that
maybe a group that's focused more broadly on open source would be
neat.   In many other areas, the LUGs tend to be more "Open Source
User Group" than strictly just Linux.

I think expanding the group's scope would be a great way to do more
outreach, since many people don't really care about operating systems
and are actually interested in the applications like MySQL, Apache,
and even higher-level stuff like Django, Asterisk, and SugarCRM.

To me, Linux is the most universal open source operating system.
All of the open source apps I like to use work best on Linux, so
that's what I use.    I've toyed with *BSD and Solaris, but just
didn't see anything there that made it worth it to me to port myself
and my apps to another flavor of Unix.

-Al Tobey

>
>       -Bob
>
>
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