What is the difference between Ubuntu,Redhat and Linux?

2 Comments

1. joe.attaboy says:

   15. December 2010 at 10:02

   First, get "Linux" out of that list. Ubuntu and Red Hat are *both* Linux.

   Linux is the name of a free operating system developed by Linus Torvalds and thousands of others around the world. Since it’s a free system (in cost and philosophy), it can be distributed in many different ways while maintaining it’s original functionality.

   Ubuntu and Red Hat are *distributions* of Linux.

   The main difference is in how you obtain them.

   Red Hat is a "commercial" version, available only via the purchase of a service support agreement. You’re not paying for the software itself, you’re paying for the media and the ability to get maintenance support for the version from Red Hat, the company. Red Hat was one of the earliest free distributions, but went commercial some years ago. You will commonly find it installed on servers in enterprises (business, government, etc) that require some kind of external support contract.

   Ubuntu is available for free (as in beer) and can be installed by anyone, anywhere. There is paid enterprise support available from their parent company (Canonical), but the majority of users are average people using it on their systems at home and getting support from the various free support forums and websites.

   By the way, some info: there is a free (as in beer) version of Red Hat called CentOS. This distro mirrors the commercial version, but is available for those who don’t want or need the commercial support. Also, the Fedora project is a free desktop version of Red Hat that acts as a test bed for future features in the commercial Red Hat. Fedora is also free, and is more "cutting edge" than Red Hat.

   I’ve linked to a site that gives details on all current Linux distributions.
2. Sky Walker says:

   15. December 2010 at 10:02

   Linux is a kernel. Kernel is the core of an OS.

   When this kernel is packaged with other things like file manager, Desktop environment, windows manager, and other applications like Firefox, it becomes a complete operating system or "distribution". Redhat and Ubuntu are just two of the hundreds of Linux distributions available.
   http://distrowatch.com/