:The easy answer is, “QNX is considered *nix-like because the aspies editing this entry say it is.” But, when you ignore the technobabble bullying and dig into the history of the product and the technology itself, QNX is not obviously *nix-like at all. 

 :For example, the QNX microkernel is nothing at all like traditional monolithic *nix kernels. Instead, it’s mostly a messaging system between discrete processes. It’s a real-life example of minimal microkernel architecture that manages to work. So QNX isn’t *nix-like in the sense of its kernel. 

 :Likewise with QNX’s user space. QNX only , drawing on NetBSD 1.4 in an approach like Apple’s use of FreeBSD. Before that, there were minimal, homemade utilities that offered functionality similar to many *nix utilities, but these were not genetically related to traditional *nix utilities and weren’t meant to replace them from, say, a workalike GNU perspective. From a 30,000 foot view, QNX only had a *nix-like user space starting in 2000, and even then it was imported from another *nix-like operating system. Overall, kind of *nix-like but not inherently so. 

 :And then we need to look at QNX end-use goals. For instance, traditional *nix systems started out as multi-user systems with a rich user space that included a development environment. Today, we see *nix deployed in over 500 million mobile devices if you include all iOS and OS X Apple device shipments doing all kinds of general-use and high-end production work. (Actually, that’s proper UNIX® there, since Apple paid for the official certification from the Open Group.) Is QNX approaching either one of these arenas? Hardly. 

 :Instead, QNX is supposed to run on minimal hardware, provide IV drips in real time to sick patients, and shut the fuck up. Not respond to your clicks on internet web pages or act responsive when your shitty 4 GB system is paging out like mad while your WoW idles and you watch shitty television programs on Netflix and let Facebook spy on you from the ten different tabs you have running in the background. 

 :So QNX’s end-use goals aren’t traditionally *nix-like, though it can be argued that *nix-like end-use goals can mean anything nowadays. Well, sorry, but I don’t put running on fucking Casio watches and dripping drugs into people at a hospital to be any sort of traditional or new-fangled *nix end-use. 

 :So, overall, QNX doesn’t seem to be *nix-like. Perhaps we could say that QNX is *nix-like despite itself, or approaches *nix-like functionality in certain areas or for certain end-uses. It’s obvious that QNX was never *nix, though, and that should make the answer to your initial question clear. 

 :The real and remaining question is, “does this matter to the aspie editors who try to hyper-categorize everything while the rest of the world is busy getting actual work done?” The answer to that question is a resounding hell no, and that is the exact reason why Jimmy Wales is staring at me right now, cockeyed, asking for donations to keep this shit-boat afloat. 

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