Okay I am making this post to clarify one of the most confusing topics that I have had about Unix and Linux.

Why do you say that Linux is not Unix ? I mean they are both POSIX compliant and they use the same commands. Agreed that some options that are found in Solaris is not present in Debian, but the general working is same for both OSes.

Also since my college syllabus includes the UNIX OS this semester so I have been doing some amount of reading on the subject. And the book that is recommended to engineering students in India (UNIX Concepts and Applications by Sumitabha Das) goes as far to say -:

Now I just want to know how accurate this really is. And if so why do all the experts that Linux is not UNIX. Also as Corona688 mentioned above GNU is not Unix.

Why is it not ? Is it just because it does not have an official certification ? Or are there actual differences at the kernel level ?


---------- Post updated at 06:39 PM ---------- Previous update was at 06:26 PM ----------

Okay once again another ultra noobish question. What is a terminal device that you are referring to above. I know its not the terminal in Linux or the command-prompt in Windows. What exactly are they ?

What do you mean by nested partitions ? The partitions in Linux/Unix are separate right ? Like I have my /home partition on my Debian system on a separate drive itself. Are you saying that partitions like /dev, etc can be nested under the root partition ? If so why would I want to do that ? What are the advantages of nested partitions ? I mean then if I lose the root partition I lose all the other partitions nested within that.(Assuming my understanding of partition nesting is right)

Please don't misunderstand when I say - Are you sure about the Windows kernel not being able to run numerous processes simultaneously ? It may have been true for older Windows like XP, but from Windows 7, Windows is pretty good at multitasking.