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macOS and Linux: Unique Systems With a Shared Unix Heritage
macOS vs Linux: Two Unix Based Operating Systems Following Unique Trajectories
macOS and Linux are two great operating systems that are both inspired by Unix.
Due to their Unix roots, macOS and Linux have a lot in common, but they are very unique and distinct too.
Where It All Started
macOS is based on a BSD Unix kernel known as Darwin which is open-source. The other parts of macOS (for example, the GUI and core applications) are mostly non-open-source and proprietary. Apple builds and maintains these systems and they come as part of your Mac device.
Apple adopted Unix into macOS in the early 2000s. Before that, macOS was based on a non-Unix operating system.
Linux on the other hand started as a personal project and as a clone of the Unix operating system in the early 90s by Linus Torvalds. Strictly speaking, Linux is just the kernel. The operating system itself is made up of core parts such as the GNU utilities, and desktop environments such as GNOME, KDE, etc.
With this background, here are some key differences between macOS and Linux.
