Posix is a portability standard for unix such that you can guarantee that any programs written for it will work across multiple systems.
Posix compatability can be done in two different ways, and it is illumination to see the different thinking behind each way.
Microsoft make NT posix compatable not by having the operating system be fundamentally compatable, but by having a compatability layer that lets you migrate from a posix compatable system to NT gradually. This means that while you move to NT you can still run your other posix compatable programs while looking for microsoft compatable alternatives.
In contrast to this, just about everyone else uses posix as a basis upon which to build an extended system, some of which are propriatory extensions. In fact, there are a whole host of posix compatable operating systems which you can choose.
last modified 04:29 2003/08/14