Rimmis history

Linux isn't an operating system
Richard Stallman (rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu)
Tue, 5 Mar 1996 22:37:28 -0500

on NASA TV last week indicate that computers running under the Linux
operating system are being used on STS-75. Linux is powerful 32-bit
multiuser, multitasking operating system similar to Unix in many ways
except cost and licensing....

Linux was designed a few short years ago by Linus Torvalds, a graduate...

This article makes a common mistake: confusing the whole operating
system with the kernel. Linus Torvalds wrote the kernel, Linux. A
whole operating systems consists of Linux and many other programs,
which were written by a great many people.

There are a number of whole operating systems using the Linux kernel,
Most of them are more or less close variants of the GNU system, so I
recommend the term "Linux-based GNU system" for them.

I'm going to talk to the author of the article about this distinction.