Re: Why is Nvidia given GPL'd code to use in closed source drivers?

[Richard Stallman]

    Just for the record, "operating system", and "kernel" are used as 
    synonyms in the research literature.

The term "operating system" has been used in both ways for a long
time.  When people speak about the "Linux operating system," most of
them mean the larger GNU/Linux system--they are not using "operating
system" to mean "kernel".

If you use some other term instead of "operating system" for the
larger collection of software, it might remove one cause of confusion.
That won't eliminate the question of what this collection's name
should properly be, or correct the misinformation about how it was
developed and by whom.