Key vendors and products
Unlike key competitors to Linux, such as Windows by Microsoft, macOS by Apple, Solaris by Oracle, or AIX by IBM, Linux has no single vendor representing it, but rather has quite a few vendors each providing their own products, support, and approach to Linux. This, of course, makes discussing Linux exceedingly difficult because Linux isn't a single thing, but more of a concept: a family of related things that often share many commonalities, but don't necessarily have to.
Describing the Linux family of operating systems is a rather daunting task as it is far more complex than just half a dozen sibling operating systems. In reality, Linux is a complex tree of root and derivative distributions with derivatives of derivatives and operating systems from all levels of the tree gaining and losing prominence over time. Thankfully, we can ignore the far more confusing and convoluted UNIX family tree of which Linux is just one branch! Analyzing the entire...
