Re:windowing system (Score 1)

Both IRIX and Solaris run happily without their windowing systems. IRIX even has a script for turning X off and starting up in console only mode.

IRIX servers (e.g. Origin 2100) run without X cos they don't have a monitor.

At the end of the day, UNIX is an open environment where there are a collection of processes and various ways of configuring how these are driven. This open environment allows the administrator to control everything.

This is the difference b/w UNIX and NT. In NT you're gonna get Windows - like it or not.

BTW: A company licenced NT source and called it OpenNT with a dream of making it a UNIX. Also, NT has a POSIX subsystem but it doesn't do much. I don't know how well OpenNT went as a product... haven't heard of it since.