Linux Features Stolen by Other OSes

rpp2119

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I'm writing a paper for school about the history of Linux and the subculture it has created as an alternative to proprietary operating systems. As part of this, I'm writing about the nature of open-source software as a collaborative and bleeding-edge testing environment for new features.

What I'm looking for is examples of features that started in Linux and then were adopted (stolen) by OSX and Windows. The first example that comes to mind is maybe "window snapping." The first time I remember seeing this was *I believe* in Ubuntu's Unity interface, but it was so long ago and it's now so ubiquitous that it's hard for me to pin down.

Does anyone have better recall on this, or are there any other examples you can give of features that started on Linux before moving to those other OSes?
 


Well application repositories have been arround the linux ecosystem for a long time. Allowing the distributed code/programs to be reviewed and updated easilly.
Apple and Microsoft added "Application stores" far later.

Some security features (most of them ?) like address space layout randomization were first introduced on bsd/linux systems : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_space_layout_randomization

If you want to show some fancy stuff that was born on linux you can talk about Compiz : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiz

There is also virtual desktops that made their way in Windows 10 : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_desktop

You could also talk about web browsers. The web as we know it was greatly influenced by KHTML, the project behind most of moderm web browser (all of them but firefox ?) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/KHTML
 
Ah, yes: virtual desktops. I remember when Mac came out with "spaces" and I thought, "wtf is this ripoff?"

I'll definitely look into repos and package management. I assume this was a part of Linux since the beginning, borrowing from the GNU Project?

Was Compiz the start of window managers using compositing effects? I'm a bit hazy on the timeline between Compiz, Metacity, or Mac's Quartz.

Thanks for the suggestions!
 
Was Compiz the start of window managers using compositing effects? I'm a bit hazy on the timeline between Compiz, Metacity, or Mac's Quartz.

It was probably not the first to use GL to render windows but its probably the project that pushed the idea the further. Look for "compiz desktop" images, this is crazy ^^
 
Windows10 Subsystem for Linux WSl is something that Windows decided to do so that you can now play with bash on Windows
command(run as admin): Enable-WindowsOptionFeature -Online _FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
 

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