Erlang "processes" clarified

Now that I'm into erlang, I've been going through the Getting Started guide on the erlang.org site, and I found this little nugget:

the term "process" is usually used when the threads of execution share no data with each other and the term "thread" when they share data in some way. Threads of execution in Erlang share no data, that's why we call them processes.

I was always confused about erlang "processes" - if they were full-blown executable VM and OS-level processes or what have you. It's getting clearer now...