Do you love Linux? Tell us why!

[ronnyk]

There may be a thread like this already, but I just wanted to start one to see what everyone loves about Linux (Ubuntu or otherwise) and/or how you feel about Microsoft/Mac.

[blah...]

I love Linux because for me it stands for freedom and transparency, two values which I find to be missing from today's world. Also, where else will you find a global community of people working to make the best possible product at no charge whatsoever? That is something commendable.

[Bart_D]

No, but it's free so who cares.

[Timmer1240]

I love it yes Its because its a lot less hassle for me to run and I can do everything I need to do with it.You can make it look like what ever you want no need for antivirus antimalware and antispyware programs running all the time its a great Operating System!Theres many different distros to suit anyones tastes and its vary secure!

[NightwishFan]

I have a picture of tux and I drew a little heart around it! :popcorn:

[krapp]

If 20th-century socialism can't do away with poverty the least it could do is do away with costly software! Hence Linux!

[Gone fishing]

Flexability (live CDs, Desktops, Servers, Parted magic etc),Power, Stability, Ease (as much as you want), Openness.

Openness I'm not going to say freedom I think this is a mistake that people get hung up on. The important thing is ideas are shared rather than owned, and built on in a cumulative manner, the development model is more academic than proprietorial.

[3Miro]

Compared to Windows, Linux is faster, more stable and more secure. I cannot do my job on windows, the supercomputers work on Linux for a reason.

Mac being essentially BSD can handle the load, but I don't like how restrictive and overpriced Macs are.

Linux is the optimal system for me.

[DabNab]

1.First it's more useful than windows
2.It's free
3.nice addition's of ubuntu http://web.ncf.ca/adamandruth/LinuxPenguin100px.png

[frankbooth]

Free
I don't have to worry about malware/viruses
It Works
I can customize everything to my liking

[Fedz]

1) For me it's the fact you can have a OS other than Windows - feel like a rebel ;-)
2) Free for all easily accessible OS especially for limited poor countries & or people, no discrimination!
3) Practically everything works out of the box - better than Windows plug-and-play :D
4) Fantastic community.
5) My desktop is nice & quiet humming away no problem, no difficulties.
*) Windows makes the hdd noisy, busy & is a killer!

All the above on my laptop too :)

[steveneddy]

It's free - but I would pay for it - and some versions like puppy and dsl we donate to.

There are no virus/trojan/spyware issues - it's relative I guess but we aren't having any issues.

It is fast - recently moved my new bride's Vista laptop over to Ubuntu and she LOVES it - she can actually work - she learned how to manipulate the GUI in no time and hasn't looked back.

It's pretty. I have never seen a Windows machine that looks as good as Ubuntu with Compiz. And - Compiz is fun to play with.

I want an iMac so bad - now THAT'S a bad a** machine.

[Timmer1240]

It's free - but I would pay for it - and some versions like puppy and dsl we donate to.

There are no virus/trojan/spyware issues - it's relative I guess but we aren't having any issues.

It is fast - recently moved my new bride's Vista laptop over to Ubuntu and she LOVES it - she can actually work - she learned how to manipulate the GUI in no time and hasn't looked back.

It's pretty. I have never seen a Windows machine that looks as good as Ubuntu with Compiz. And - Compiz is fun to play with.

I want an iMac so bad - now THAT'S a bad a** machine.
I would pay for it too!But its FREE!My wife is starting to get curious about it now too Win 7 is starting to annoy her its slow and has had a few Malware issues Ive had to fix and my Linux box is ALWAYS blazingly fast!

[jerrrys]

with windows, i thought i was in control. with linux, i know im in control. i now have the freedom to do whatever i want to (not counting my really stupid ideas:D) and best part is that someone else usually has already done it and all i got to do is follow the instructions.

[Frogs Hair]

1. Free
2. No trusted installer to tell the user what they can or cannot do .
3. Customization
4. Great learning experience (no longer a point & click Zombie)

I only speak for myself , so don't take #4 the wrong way.

[clgy15]

I cant tell you how much Linux saves me money. I control almost 30 servers and instead of paying hundreds for one windows server license I run Arch on every one of my servers.

Now granted, I use Windows on my own desktop, but Linux servers are the best. Windows server has nothing compared to the scalability and security of Linux.

[neu5eeCh]

Because it makes me feel like the days when I was sitting in front of a TRS-80 and I knew the computer was completely transparent. I could do anything I wanted with it. There wasn't a proprietary layer between me and the CPU that I didn't own, which I used by permission, and which was illegal to tamper with. I still have my TRS-80 pocket computer - mint condition.

[athenroy]

Well, I've tried Linux off and on since about 1999 or 2000, somewhere in that area, believe me, some of those early versions were NOT fun! So, being generally bored and wanting a challenge, I thought I'd check Ubuntu again and see what the latest version looked liked like. I tried the live CD, saw that audio and everything else seemed to work, so I did a Wubi install. Really have been having a blast with 11.04! I enjoy the stability, the fact that I can do almost everything I can do in Windows and the customization. Love those rotating desktops!

After trying the Unity desktop, I now run the Classic version, I'm right handed and having the launcher on the left side of the screen is just too inconvenient for me. I have no problem using the Classic version, so will stick with that.

Of course, the fact that most Linux distros are free is also a BIG plus! :)

Linux and Ubuntu in particular has made a giant leap forward as to ease of installation and providing proper drivers and "working out of the box". Speed, reliability and customization are the great appeal of Linux. Unfortunately, with the advent of Gnome Shell 3 and Unity, it appears ready to take a giant leap backwards! :(

[Fedz]

After trying the Unity desktop, I now run the Classic version, I'm right handed and having the launcher on the left side of the screen is just too inconvenient for me. I have no problem using the Classic version, so will stick with that.
I'm surprised you can't choose to have unity on left or right hand side of screen :o

You could submit the idea :)

[1991sudarshan]

I love linux because I can control all the aspects of the computer where as in Windows I have to adjust! The main thing i love in linux is the availability Japanese and Chinese Language learning applications!

[jhonan]

I can't pinpoint what it is - But if I'm sitting in front of Linux and want to say, parse a CSV file and output the results to XML, then I know I can just fire up perl or python and get the job done in a few minutes.

In other operating systems I'd be left googling a 'pythonlib.dll not registered' error for 2 hours.