I mean in the beginning you'd be downloading the kernel code yourself and building a distribution with core utils. Distros came along and did all that work for

I mean in the beginning you'd be downloading the kernel code yourself and building a distribution with core utils. Distros came along and did all that work for you: they were a system that packaged up the kernel with a lot of useful utilities as well as an packaging and update mechanism. Of course you can find a way to be upset with the term if you want to, but I think it's in this sense that these container images are distroless.