Why use linux?
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| herzeleid Mar 07, 2009 1:31 PM EDT |
I use linux because it's the best option. In day to day usage, linux causes me far less grief, and offers me far more flexibility, than any other OS I've used. |
| caitlyn Mar 07, 2009 1:51 PM EDT |
herzeleid pretty well sums it up for me. |
| azerthoth Mar 07, 2009 1:52 PM EDT |
I started to answer the question, and felt a small novel coming on. To nutshell, I dont hate MS, I just have no use for their products, I prefer stability and dont miss virii at all. |
| twickline Mar 07, 2009 2:17 PM EDT |
herzeleid well said! The greatest thing about Linux is the people who use it! |
| tracyanne Mar 07, 2009 7:03 PM EDT |
I started using Linux because security, or the general lack of, on Windows concerned me, I've seen nothing since I made that decision that has so far caused me to re evaluate that position. In the mean time I discovered a more stable, more usable system, with more software than I can poke a stick at only a few mouse clicks away |
| Bob_Robertson Mar 07, 2009 9:05 PM EDT |
I'll second Tracyanne's comment, except I was never actually worried about security. I learned UNIX while still using Win311. Win95 and those that followed seemed to me to be steps backwards. Heck, even with Win95 I was able to turn things OFF, which later versions took away from me. I resent having abilities taken away, and as the Windows I used at work advanced, my disgust with them only grew. While at the same time, Linux systems became ever easier, more robust and more powerful in terms of what I could do. My experience was parallel, directly comparing the two year after year, and I chose to use what worked better. Linux. (meaning the entire F/OSS community: software, users and systems) |
| jdixon Mar 07, 2009 9:08 PM EDT |
I started using Linux in 1994 because I was wanting to do some things which could only be done poorly and/or at great expense under Windows. I quickly found that it could replace Windows for most of my needs. By the time Windows 98 came out, I could see the direction Microsoft was going and I wanted no part of it, so I switched almost completely to Linux. I've kept an old DOS machine around for some old games I still play, and I keep one Windows machine for use with work, but I normally use Linux for all my home use. Linux simply works better than Windows for almost everything. When you add in the fact that it's free, there's no comparison. Yes, there are some specialized applications you can't run under Linux, but it long ago passed the point where 90% of computer users could use Linux instead of Windows. |
| nalf38 Mar 08, 2009 1:05 AM EDT |
One of the tech support guys at a DSL reseller I worked for briefly in 1999 (my first and only foray into the tech industry) turned me on to Linux. I was complaining about my pirated copy of windows 98 crashing all the time, and he showed me his Redhat install. RedHat looked more or less exactly like Windows 95/98 back then, and it didn't crash all the time...and I didn't have to resort to pirating all my software because I couldn't afford to pay for MS Office or a decent CD burning program. I promised myself I would stop dual-booting as soon there was a word processor for Linux that could do footnotes (I was a doctoral student), and a halfway decent web browser. Less than a few years later, Sun started giving StarOffice for Linux Beta away for free (still closed source), and Netscape started basing their releases on the Mozilla 0.9 series, and I've never looked back. It was the perfect time to switch. Broadband started to take off right after that, and there seemed to be a major virus epidemic every few months. |
| montezuma Mar 08, 2009 9:32 AM EDT |
I use it because it is better than the alternatives for what I do and it saves me a lot of money. |
| Scott_Ruecker Mar 08, 2009 10:15 AM EDT |
Wait a second...what do you mean use it? You expect me to actually be using Linux?!?!? That's insane, how am i supposed to get anything done?!?! /end impression of average 'FOSS' journalist.... ;-) |
| vainrveenr Mar 08, 2009 2:54 PM EDT |
The author writes
Quoting:In some cases low resource requirements are great, but this computer I am typing on could run Vista.Even considering all the above comments, there are STILL plenty of computer users who wish to avoid the hassles of getting the external devices they already own to seamlessly work with an OS requiring less HW specs than MS-Vista. These tech newbies are just too "busy" (or alternatively, just plain lazy) to go through hoops (by way of example here) to get ndiswrapper to work with their new high-end wireless adapter in Linux or to use the foomatic software to get their new printer working perfectly . For these folks, it makes much more sense to have Linux pre-installed by a third party, in order to have all the hardware device kinks worked out BEFOREHAND and yet gain all the benefits of Linux touted above. For those who will spend more time getting to know their computer systems and the REAL benefits of Linux hands-on, it makes the most sense to a) use a LiveCD to try Linux things out, and b) to use a dual-boot Windows-Linux system. Then, the transition is greatly eased for day-to-day Linux use away from the grief and inflexibility described for Windows! As written above Quoting:I promised myself I would stop dual-booting as soon there was a word processor for Linux that could do footnotes (I was a doctoral student), and a halfway decent web browser.Indeed, here is an example of this very same transition process. ....and past LXer threads have already contained illuminating discussion on the very subject. |
| hkwint Mar 08, 2009 3:14 PM EDT |
I use Linux because BSD was too hard after all. I didn't manage to mount my old FAT partitions in NetBSD because of a nasty bug, and in FreeBSD didn't manage to make my printer work or to compile OOo from scratch, while in (Gentoo) Linux this was peanuts apart from the fact that you don't have to compile OOo from scratch in Gentoo. The latter seems counter-intuitive, doesn't it, using Gentoo because you don't have to compile stuff? <sarcasm>Gee, why does everybody expect if you use Linux it has something to do with Microsoft?</sarcasm> I had a dual boot for a while with Linux and my 'pirated' environment, until I was finally able to get rid of my pirated environment. After that I didn't use Windows anymore because of the eco-system of gratis software in Linux and not having to download a tool for every config I wanted to change, and because of my dislike for the junk-filled garbage dump that is the Windows eco-system nowadays. I wanted to link to the 'Windowsoft market place' as an example of the garbage dump of the Windows eco-system, but I just saw Microsoft took it down. Is there any better evidence? |
| gus3 Mar 08, 2009 4:14 PM EDT |
I use Linux because I know, at any given time, that I am complying with all the software licenses. I'm not afraid that I'm doing something "not allowed" by some five-layers-deep EULA. That also gives me greater freedom to monitor my system on any level. I can work around any weaknesses that someone else has discovered, to regain control of my system, instead of hoping and praying that someone at $BIGCORP has done their work and kept the bad guys out of my system. Proprietary software companies demand trust. And those who demand trust are never worthy of it. |
| tuxtom Mar 09, 2009 8:07 AM EDT |
Quoting:Linux simply works better than Windows for almost everything.Absolutely my reason for using it...and once you learn it there is no turning back...Windows appears insane once you use Linux. With Linux the world is your oyster... |
| Sander_Marechal Mar 09, 2009 8:17 AM EDT |
I started using Linux because Windows is so limiting and buggy that it annoyed the hell out of me. You know the kind of annoyance when you become aggressive towards the computer (and and bystanders offering to "help"). Linux doesn't do that to me. If there's a Linux problem then I *know* that I can fix it, even though it may take me a extraordinary amount of time. Now I stay with Linux because it's by far the best developer platform. |
| techiem2 Mar 09, 2009 4:34 PM EDT |
I started playing with Linux originally I think because I was a geek, it was free, and it gave me something other than dos/Win31 to play with. :) Now of course I use it for the power, freedom, productivity (aaaieee! the evil word!), stability, security, fun...... |
| ColonelPanik Mar 09, 2009 6:16 PM EDT |
Linux uses me! Nice to see all the unity for a change. And of course the Colonel agrees. Linux is better for 99.9% of what 99.9% of the users need. |
| Scott_Ruecker Mar 09, 2009 6:44 PM EDT |
I use Linux because it makes me feel better about myself, literally. If Linux/Gnu-Linux/FOSS doesn't make you feel like a better Human Being, then stop trying...lol! |
| herzeleid Mar 09, 2009 7:47 PM EDT |
Quoting:Linux uses me!Are you a Soviet Colonel then? |
| gus3 Mar 09, 2009 8:12 PM EDT |
No, the Soviet kernel's Sander's. |
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