Why did you pick Linux?

[waspbr]

If you must know, before I tried it I was very much against it, I thought it was a waste of time given the amount of stuff I could already do in windows and whatnot.

I had already come to terms about being a geek after my bachelors in aerospace engineering, then in mid 2007 I stumbled on digg.com and started seeing all these posts on ubuntu gutsy alphas and betas. Since I was no stranger to (re-)installing windows, I thought that if I was going to be a geek I might as well go to the deep end.

So I downloaded the stable release of gutsy and tried, it I gotta say I was terrified. I looked for as many tutorials on the installation as I could find and even youtube video (which helped a bunch).

On my first try, I messed things up and ended up having to reinstall windows, so I gave it some time. After a week or two, my geek pride was back together and I tackled it again. successfully this time.

Then I saw how little I knew and how much I had to learn about my own computer, I was amazed at the amount of free software. I even found tools , like OpenFOAM, which I have been using to write a thesis on acoustics simulations. My productivity ha increased and my computer headaches have gone.

That being said I still dual boot, my laptop runs both ubuntu and win7, my main computer runs ubuntu and my secondary gaming box runs winxp.

And that is why

[Jon Monreal]

That's a pretty broad "we"; speak for yourself. I don't use Linux because of Microsoft.

Very true. I don't think Windows is a bad OS (*gasp*), and I don't use Linux solely because it's Open Source.

What it comes down to is this: I don't use Linux for one single reason. I enjoy the fast boot times (Windows boots faster on my machine, but as always it takes much longer to get going. I also enjoy the freedom of customization that Linux allows me. Linux is relatively secure (even if only because of marketshare, I won't debate that issue). A part of me probably enjoys the challenge as well (especially with Gentoo which was my first distro, not too much with Ubuntu).

[0sm]

Well, thought out reasonings. Thanks

[xuCGC002]

Why? I didn't like the state I was in with XP. I could barely get anything done, or at least anything done quickly. My wireless adapter didn't work at all, applications would crash without warning, the system would constantly lock up at times when I was trying to complete a task, and it would take 1-2 minutes to boot up (and be usable).

Generally, I'm an impatient person. I don't want something to take minutes to complete, I want it to complete within seconds. I was tired of using the same exact system for 5 years and wanted something new. I considered buying a Mac, but that would be too costly by my parents' budget (I was 10 at the time), and I was not aware of any alternatives.

I remember going to my uncle's house one day and using an old computer of his. It had this strange interface that was quite snappy for a P2. I asked what it was and he said it was "Linux", something free that he used from time to time. I asked for a CD and was given Xubuntu 6.06. I later swtiched to vanilla Ubuntu and have only occasionally looked back, then realized what I had just gone through those past 5 years.

[bruno9779]

What do you mean, the mass majority of the minority that use Linux?

Anyway, the answer is simple, we use Linux because of Microsoft.

+1

specifically because of Vista in my case.

Vista pushed me to linux, and it is the best thing M$ has done for me

[jeyaganesh]

1. I can change themes, icons and pointers
2. Compiz Fusion - When I get bored I rotate my 3D desktop and fire my windows.
3. Fun to explore new things.
4. Really tired of anti-virus and securty updates.
5. Hate unnecessary warnings and notification.
6. Angry to restart the pc often.
7. Wanted to escape from the system crash.
8. Like the friendly community of Linux.

[0sm]

1. I can change themes, icons and pointers
2. Compiz Fusion - When I get bored I rotate my 3D desktop and fire my windows.
3. Fun to explore new things.
4. Really tired of anti-virus and securty updates.
5. Hate unnecessary warnings and notification.
6. Angry to restart the pc often.
7. Wanted to escape from the system crash.
8. Like the friendly community of Linux.

+1 Made me laugh a little but nice

[Simian Man]

1. Package mangement. After doing "yum install gcc-c++ eclipse-cdt SDL*-devel scons vim-X11" to, for example, get all my development tools installed, doing the equivalent on any system without package management is a serious PITA.
2. Workspaces. Being able to have all of my stuff organized and uncluttered is awesome. I keep one workspace for browsing and fun, and one for each project I'm working on.
3. The customizabilty that comes with being able to change not only the way your desktop looks, but the applications you use for virtually everything and also the way that the shell works with scripts and aliases.

Stability and viruses have never really been much a problem for me on any OS, so that is not a reason for me at all.

[JDShu]

I actually started using it partly because China endorses it. The other part was because I wanted to try something different from Windows for free (as in beer). Now i just use it because it doesn't slow down over time like Windows does, especially since I'm an idiot user.. and also just because of inertia. Can't be bothered to switch back.

[cascade9]

Why linux? Cause its easier than BSD or Solaris. I perfer the GPL to the BSD licence as well.

I actually started using it partly because China endorses it. The other part was because I wanted to try something different from Windows for free (as in beer). Now i just use it because it doesn't slow down over time like Windows does, especially since I'm an idiot user.. and also just because of inertia. Can't be bothered to switch back.

I thought that china had pretty much stopped with the 'red flag is china's OS' rhetoric only they cut a deal with microsoft?

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=525