Maybe that plan B of GNU using the 4.4BSD lite kernel would have gained traction and you would have seen a GNU BSD vs NetBSD thing.

I can’t see it though gaining the kind of traction Linux got as it was all so cloistered.  Much like how GNU Mach never caught on or moved despite having a NetBSD port (Lites) to it.  The killer feature should have been SMP which was available early on in Mach, although it seems that the MPS 1.0 stuff didn’t work well enough or by the time 1.1 caught on it just wasn’t good enough.

I think the development model of Linux is what really drove it, just like how EGCS eclipsed GCC.

The other crazy thing that hits me is that no Linux means no Caldera which means no Caldera 32v license being set free... 

From: Arthur Krewat
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2019 7:14 AM
To: TUHS main list
Subject: [TUHS] If not Linux, then what?

https://linux.slashdot.org/story/19/08/26/0051234/celebrating-the-28th-anniversary-of-the-linux-kernel

Leaving licensing and copyright issues out of this mental exercise, what

would we have now if it wasn't for Linux? Not what you'd WANT it to be,

although that can add to the discussion, but what WOULD it be?

I'm not asking as a proponent of Linux. If anything, I was dragged

kicking and screaming into the current day and have begrudgingly ceded

my server space to Linux.

But if not for Linux, would it be BSD? A System V variant? Or (the

horror) Windows NT?

I do understand that this has been discussed on the list before. I

think, however, it would make a good late-summer exercise. Or late

winter depending on where you are :)

art k.