As Linux is an open source and free operating system, it is in great demand. It is everywhere, on our servers, laptops, smart phones, desktops, refrigerators, washing machines etc.
People often get mistaken and thinks that UNIX and Linux are the same, but no they are not the same. Many OS were developed to be like UNIX but none can be compared to the popularity of Linux. Linux have many features similar to UNIX but there are many key differences distinguishing Linux and UNIX. Before Linux came into picture, UNIX dominated the computer world. Companies like IBM, HP-UX, and Sun Solaris still use UNIX OS.
Difference between Linux and UNIX
| Linux | UNIX |
| Linux is freely available for everyone. | UNIX OS can only be used by its copyrighters. |
| Linux is an open source OS and any programmer can contribute to its development. | UNIX versions are primarily developed by AT&T company and other commercial vendors. |
| Anyone can be a Linux user whether a student, developer or any other individual. | It is mainly for servers and mainframes. |
| About 60-100 viruses in Linux are listed till date which is no more spreading. | About 80 to 120 viruses are reported till date in UNIX OS. |
| Linux offers two graphic user interfaces viz., KDE and Gnome. Other alternatives such as Mate, Xfce, etc. are also available. | Unix has Common Desktop Environment and can also use Gnome. |
| As Linux is community driven, threat is detected easily and immediately and solution can be provided fast. | Threat detection and solution needs a longer wait time in Unix so as to get the proper bug fixing patch. |
| Redhat, Ubuntu, OpenSuse etc are different Linux distributions available. | HP-UX, BSD, etc. are different distributions of Unix available. |
| It is portable and can be booted from a USB Stick. | It is not portable. |
| The source code is available to the public. | The source code of UNIX is not available to anyone. |
| The default interface of Linux is BASH (Bourne Again SHell). But other versions are also developed by programmers. | UNIX originally used Bourne shell. But it is also compatible with other GUIs. |
| Linux provides better file system than UNIX. | File system in UNIX is not better than in Linux. |