UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Is FreeBSD and OpenBSD considered Unix? What O.S does Most of the forum members use? How popular are Licensed Unix operating systems for home users?
Additionally I thought Linux was a Minux fork and BSD was a Unix fork.
Thanks in advance!

I would say yes but that really depends on the Unix definition you choose.
Windows ?
Not enough, probably.
Linux isn't a Minix fork, it was initially developed on it though.
BSD was definitely a Unix fork.

There are two answers to this question...

UNIX is a trade name of the open group.
For the open group to let you call your product UNIX you must meet a standard of quality and a basic set of commands.

but in a more general use of the word, unix is a multi-user OS based on the design of multics from AT&T back in 1960's

A large measure of what makes an OS unix it not so much what it is, its more where it draws its history from.

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and as for what I use...

windows for my main system at home.
windows for my desktop at work.

one linux and one open-BSD as servers at home.
300 solaris system and 500 HPUX systems at work.

Yes. Quite a variety, and, honestly, probably unimportant. I believe there's some polls here about that, maybe under the "what's on your mind" section. Linux, while designed with a lot of experience with Minux in mind, didn't actually use Minux code -- it was built from the ground up. It actually started its life as a terminal emulator, too.

or no by current terminology. FreeBSD and OpenBSD do not attempt to fully comply with the current Unix standard so technically they can't be labeled as Unix systems, not that a lot of people care though ... There is no such thing as "Minux".

Right, minix. Picky.

I've never heard actual adherence to the UNIX standard brought up in a UNIX religious war before. That's a new one.

Unfortunately it is true. The Open Group currently own the trademark "UNIX" and have chosen to dictate what the word means. It is actually nothing new for the owner of that trademark.

IMHO without great hardware designs such as the DEC PDP-11 and existing Operating Systems and Assembly Languages to work with, the development of Unix would have got nowhere. There were much better Operating Systems than Unix but they tend to be proprietary, closed source and expensive.