[Bush2000]

I wouldn't have an issue with what you're saying if you would stop saying that Windows is just a kernel or that Linux is more than a kernel. Saying that Linux is a whole OS is like saying that an engine is an entire car.

That's the basic issue here: What comprises an OS. And, likewise, I wouldn't have any problem defining Linux merely as a kernel if Linux advocates weren't so disingenuous in insisting that IIS, IE, and Office are flaws in Windows. Under the terms you've described, there have been very few hacks to the Windows and Linux kernels.

[Campion]

That's the basic issue here: What comprises an OS.

At one time, wasn't it the Official Microsoft Legal Position ([tm] [all rights reserved] [click "accept" on the EULA before reading]) that IE was part of the operating system and couldn't be untangled from it without ... I dunno ... breaking the intergalactic disgronificator module, or something?

[rdb3]

And, likewise, I wouldn't have any problem defining Linux merely as a kernel if Linux advocates weren't so disingenuous in insisting that IIS, IE, and Office are flaws in Windows.

You mean someone actually said Office is a flaw in Windows? They must have been smoking some good stuff to make that claim.