From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word “Linux” in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
Linux is just the kernel, but we lack a common “system” layer. I found this talk really refreshing from a BSD perspective.
There’s the freedesktop specifications but there’s quite a bunch they don’t cover. What are the reasons why every desktop environment needs to rewrite their own file browser, calculator and email client? I wish we had more specifications so that parts become interchangeable and desktop environments can focus on building a good desktop: let desktop-agnostic apps be the apps.