Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/09/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Ahem, there are two parts to OS X. There is Darwin, the Open Source underlying layer and there is the GUI that layers on top of it. That part of the OS is completely open source, covered by an approved open source license agreement. You can download it from Apple (either the entire Darwin source or the license). There is no GUI associated with Darwin. You don't get Quartz, or QuickTime, or any of the Finder layers. BUT, you get an OS that runs X11 and therefore a windowing system if you want. It will serve web pages, do network connections, but it doesn't have the value added features that make OS X so easy to use and which abstracts the user experience from the UNIX core. That abstraction is worth money, Apple believes, and most people who use operating systems would agree. The underlying UNIX core is available by starting up the supplied terminal application and presto you're in a UNIX shell (tcsh or bash depending on what version of the OS you happen to be running). OS X Server adds value because it takes many open source components and adds some very spiffy high-level functionality to bind them together in ways unique for UNIX operating systems. While the GPL is ONE open source license - it is not the ONLY open source license - although it's sort of a religious issue. On Sep 3, 2003, at 10:40 PM, Jeff S wrote: > Eric, if you don't believe that OS X is a proprietary, > or at least a copyrighted product, post the OS X 10.3 > disk images on your website for public download for a > few weeks and see what happens. PORTIONS of OS X are > free software, but these items do not a complete OS > make. - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html