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this post was submitted on 31 May 2024
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Linux
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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.
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You can make most distros work like most others, with enough tweaking. The main difference at this point isn't what you can do with them, but how they're set up by default, which typically reflects their thing (e.g., Debian is super stable vs Arch giving access to the latest and greatest).
To be honest, I think the homogenization is a net positive. I doubt we'd have the diverse driver support that makes Linux a viable desktop OS if we didn't have lots of similarities. And it's a natural thing--it turns out that most people want computers to do a relatively similar variety of things, so all the major distros end up moving a similar direction. And with open source, when one distro implements a really nice feature, it makes sense everyone else would port it as well.
Excellently distilled most of my post.
I wonder if distros are interested to further blur the lines themselves; like how Debian and Fedora both enable Flatpak by default.
Definitely. But I feel like we fail at capitalizing on this. Though, in all fairness, the fact that derivatives have lost (some of) their significance does convey to me that we're currently in a major shift. I just wonder where we'll end up and if there's anything we (as a community) can do in order to accelerate the process.