andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> Aside, one of the problems is that it has 
> become unclear as to what an OS is. I don't think a text editor is part 
> of it, nor is a card game, yet there are companies who try to make us 
> think differently.

  There's a difference between an OS and an OS distro. For example the
text editor may be part of the OS distro although it's not a critical
part of the OS itself. (In other words, the computer can be still used
even if the text editor is removed, thus the text editor is clearly not
part of the underlying OS.)
  One main difference between an OS and an OS distro is that there can
exist different distros of the same OS, while the OS part is the same
in all of them.

  Of course in many cases the distinction becomes very fuzzy. Is, for
example, a device driver part of the OS or part of the distro? I suppose
in the case of Linux it's really part of the OS because device drivers
are compiled into the kernel, while in the case of Windows it's not so
clear, as device drivers can be quite separate from the kernel (and many
of them are even optional).

  Also, is a firewall an integral part of the OS, or is it just a app
in the distro?

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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