Re: Linux is a desktop OS
> But then, under that (mistaken) belief, so is Unix.
Of course it is. Mac is BSD (Unix) based and it is a great desktop system.
> Taking a server OS and topping it with a window server makes it 'desktop"
Windows NT was developed as a server OS, the original design included it being multi-user*. Windows NT 3.1 had a GUI, basically from Windows 3.1, added on top. The NT design still underlies all the subsequent versions of Window.
> Linux kernel is multiuser server. If [we] press it into single-user desktop use
Unix, Linux and Windows (post 3.11) are all pre-emptive multi-tasking kernels. The only difference in being multi-user is that the user id is attached to the process and this is checked against the various security settings and attributes. As Windows does this too then it is actually a multi-user kernel, it is just not simultaneously multi-user (except TSE and/or Citrix). It can swap users and may even be able to leave the original user with some idle processes until they swap back.
* the multi-user bit was removed because Bill wanted to sell a copy to every user rather than one copy for a bunch of users. This was added back for TSE.