Why did we start using LINUX? [Archive]

AlanRogers

November 16th, 2006, 03:01 PM

I replied 'because ******* peed me off' but that isn't entirely true, just the closest answer in the poll.

I run a company supporting small businesses and home workers and this invariably means Windows. I have nothing against Windows per se but I do object to the fact that Bill appears to be creating a market for Vista by pulling the support plug on all bar XP Pro/Home SP2 and Server 2003.

A lot of architecture out there will run XP but probably not Vista, as XP has been around so long. The choice is therefore replace, or is it? This is why I'm exploring Linux and Ubuntu has come up top for me so far. Exploration continues...

MaximB

November 16th, 2006, 03:04 PM

it all started at my MCSE training course, when my teacher showed us Knoppix live cd and told us it's a free OS named GNU/Linux...
the next day I've signed at this forum and a month after that I was already using dapper.

so I guess I had several reasons
1.it's free , and I wanted to turn legal (yeah I didn't buy my winxp).
2.I wanted to see other OS's then windows.

I must say that it wasn't b/z I dislike windows (winxp was stable for me).
but I wanted some change.

viper

November 16th, 2006, 03:11 PM

The challenge of something new, always gets my blood boiling :mrgreen:
Linux is always getting better and i wanna stick around for the ride!!!!!!

to4i

November 16th, 2006, 03:14 PM

I wanted a change, and Windows pissed me off...
me too, I need to feel the freedom, my OS too :-D

deanlinkous

November 16th, 2006, 03:20 PM

Is that free as in price or free as in freedom.
I came to linux for a change, a real change not just a DIFFERENT proprietary OS. I came to linux because I finally realized the upgrade cycle lock-in, the spoon-feed them just enoughto keep them happy idea, the treat them like a criminal regardless if they are or not, and so forth....

GNU+Linux free as in freedom

sweemeng

November 16th, 2006, 03:25 PM

the whole thing started in windows 98, which pissed me off the the crashes.:mad:

and still do until windows xp, by that time, it is too late
i already decided to dual boot, after a while, a long while. windows suddenly crashed for no reason. in the end the windows partition gone unused for sometime, until the original hard disk dead.

that time still use debian 3.0 dual boot with windows, 3.0 is an adventure, learn alot, faces only on shell, and have to compile kernel, and manually upgrade the packages, first month i use linux. then uses mandrake, well at least most work out of box, except wireless, and dependency hell. then when 3.1 comes out, i go for it. then later uses sid, via dist-upgrade, still with my unused windows partition.

then hard disk crash,beyond repair(with windows die with it), and finally have a windows free environment:D , didn't bother to get windows, even my faculty have msdn subscription for student(when the hard disk is here). have to use the laptop on knoppix only, then try ubuntu breezy, by ordering it. well i can wait. since i don't have money to get new hard disk. then install ubuntu, when both the harddisk and ubuntu arrives, and the rest is history. because the wireless work, and the installation went easily(which is not suprising, since i'm from a debian background). :D

delfick

November 16th, 2006, 03:25 PM

a few years ago a friend gave me fedora core 3 (what a piece of s***t it was :D) and so i installed that to see what linux was like........well, i think that lasted a month or two before going back to windows.....(and i'll never use fedora again :p) installing anything was such a hassle and well, linux didn't really serve any purpose for me and it was ugly.........(i didn't know enough at the time to rectify the problem)

anyways, then earlier this year i tried fedora core 5, to see what it was like (yet again i reinfore, i'll never go back to fedora :D (though i'm sure it's a great OS....for other people)

this is when i saw an article about Xgl and i watched that 11minute movie of it and i was drawn in by wobbly (to this day wobbly is by far my favorite plugin :D)

i realised that fedora core couldn't use it (i think it couldn't) and so i looked for a distro that could, and i found out that dapper (which was still prerelease) could, so i installed that......

since then linux has become my main OS and i love it, only using windows when i want to play proper games, or want to make anything serious in macromedia flash (or want to use paint shop pro)....

so morale of the story, i use linux because of the beryl effects :D
(and the fact that it's so customizable, different and has such a fantastic community (ubuntu does anyway :D:D))

Klaidas

November 16th, 2006, 03:52 PM

no "other" option? aww :(

skymt

November 16th, 2006, 04:04 PM

There's no option for "Mac OS X pissed me off". ;)

Brunellus

November 16th, 2006, 04:07 PM

Because windows died and I needed a computer.

I was thrown in the deep end, and refused to pirate.

public_void

November 16th, 2006, 04:17 PM

Got bored with Windows (Never had any problems with windows) and wonder what this 'Linux' thing was. Installed Ubuntu, now I'm hooked.

jimcooncat

November 16th, 2006, 04:33 PM

I maintain quite a few computers for work, family, and friends. I'm moving them all to Linux as fast as I can because I just don't have time to maintain Windows OS's anymore.

Yes, there are a lot of migration issues. It's worth it.

EdThaSlayer

November 16th, 2006, 04:47 PM

Reason 1:Window$ kept crashing and such
Reason 2:I was obsessed with open source
Reason 3:Opensource apps are usually better

dillbertdabomb

November 16th, 2006, 04:48 PM

Velotix

November 16th, 2006, 04:48 PM

Heheh. Well, I'm one of those weirdos - the kind of person who actually likes Windows XP. Vista makes alarm bells scream in my head, though.

So, I'm not here because I'm anti-Microsoft (in fact I personally think the Xbox is solid stuff) - I'm here because I ran out of money! This computer was very expensive and it wasn't until I ordered it that I suddenly realised I hadn't budgeted for WinXP! Fortunately, I remembered the Ubuntu CD my uni tutor had been trying (a futile attempt, might I add :( ) to get people to try the CD. So I took a look at Ubuntu in more detail.

By the time I get my PC, I know exactly what I want: Xubuntu Edgy 32-bit. The rest is history. (I'm not kidding, just search for all my posts! :P)

Sluipvoet

November 16th, 2006, 04:52 PM

I've heard a lot about Linux, and I wanted to give it a try.
Turned out I liked it.

deanlinkous

November 16th, 2006, 04:53 PM

So who is more of a fanatic? Someone who hates another OS and so uses something else. Or someone who doesn't hate the other OS but does not believe in proprietary software?

What happens next week when you "hate" Ubuntu for whatever reason? switching again?

Buffalo Soldier

November 16th, 2006, 04:54 PM

Freedom.

SunnyRabbiera

November 16th, 2006, 04:55 PM

Windows pissed me off, its a pain to maintain.
the constant security flaws, the viruses, the addware...
Plus the matter of the activation nonsense

Dual Cortex

November 16th, 2006, 04:57 PM

Curiosity

kuja

November 16th, 2006, 05:08 PM

Windows pissed me off, its a pain to maintain.
the constant security flaws, the viruses, the addware...
Plus the matter of the activation nonsense
What s/he said.

Tomosaur

November 16th, 2006, 05:09 PM

I got bored of Windows.

ericesque

November 16th, 2006, 05:19 PM

I believe it was curiosity. I'd mastered XP as much as I ever cared to and wanted to step further into my geekdom. I can't remember if I tried fedora or knoppix first. Fedora didn't go well (I believe it was FC3) but knoppix intrigued me. Being a live cd, I would leave my computer on for days on end just to play around. I lost interest after a while since I hadn't bothered installing it to my hdd.

Then I took a software and OS course at university. Again I found myself compelled to dabble with the newest knoppix. When I decided I really enjoyed it, I began a distro search. Nothing really jumped out at me unitl I took one of those quizes that tell you what distro you would like. My options were Mepis and Kubuntu (at the time I liked KDE). I couldn't get to the desktop in Mepis, so I installed Kubuntu.

Eventually I decided I liked Gnome better than KDE and I've been on Ubuntu since. YAY!

xpod

November 16th, 2006, 05:26 PM

Bought an old m.e sys off a pal in march followed soon after by a newer but just as messed up xp from a family member.....spent a few months learning all the joy`s of spyware,viruses,de-hyjacking,dodgy drivers.dodgy dll`s,msconfig,hidden processes,services and other elusive crap that run`s on your pc.....never really got to "use" the things:rolleyes:
Figured out how to use sfc to replace missing files from i386 directory and even make xp cd`s from said directory to do a clean install with but by then it was all too late....[-(

I was already pi**ed off and out looking to see what else was available.
I`ve now used Ubu\kubu for roughly the same time as i used windows and this is just soooo much better as far as im concerned.

We only put off buying new back in march to wait for that new "vista" thing to come out.......PHEW!!!!Buying that old heap of an m.e was the best decision i could have possibly made.
I only sat down at the thing to have a game of "pacman" originally.:-k

lazyart

November 16th, 2006, 05:33 PM

I just got tired
of living like a pirate
So I installed Ubuntu
Incredible what you can do.

Anonii

November 16th, 2006, 05:40 PM

Windows was boring. Just that.

skymt

November 16th, 2006, 05:56 PM

ohh gosh another windows hater
click here dude! (http://www.novell.com/linux/microsoft/)

sure we all hate windows, but at least now we have a reason to forget about Microsoft being so evil, after all they are starting to open up to us open source people

Well I still don't like windows...

There has been a ton of discussion about this agreement, and the consensus seems to be that it's probably a bad thing. Microsoft agreed not to sue one company, in return for an implied admission that some open source software is violating Microsoft IP. Also, the deal only lasts five years, and can be canceled before then. So this isn't Microsoft "opening up to us", it's Microsoft trying yet again to stop us.

deanlinkous

November 16th, 2006, 06:11 PM

Actually they promised not to sue the users of one certain linux distribution. Making a deal like this, is basically selling out users of any other distro or should I say trying to make their linux THE linux by hook or by crook...

blueturtl

November 16th, 2006, 06:27 PM

I believe hardware is only worth the software it runs. I had just purchased a brand new system and all the joy was gone. It was like an expensive paperweight with Windows. Nothing had changed. It was still the same clunky software with the same flaws and some new irritations. All those features and speed wasted on such trash. I was already saving for a Mac, but then I found Ubuntu. Dual-booted for a while and after I got my first BSOD under Windows XP I erased it and never looked back. Does that answer the question? :-k

ComplexNumber

November 16th, 2006, 06:32 PM

none of the above. i first started using linux in about 1996 for a course at college. i installed linux on my pc a few years later in 1998 because i wanted a change from windows.

euchrid

November 16th, 2006, 06:40 PM

-Windows pissed me off (XP better than the last few, but: Pop-up balloons everywhere! Security updates! Expensive! Media Player Updates that mess up my system! and on and on)
- Linux is free (to roam and costs nothing)
- I wanted change...

...but more important than any of the above:

- It is community-based (make friends, learn stuff, participate, expand), and I seriously believe, from what I have seen so far, that the open-source community provides a basis for how we can improve both local and global communities in the real world. People from different cultures, nations and languages can create something wonderful that actually works - for free, for the love of it, and for the hell of it.
- It's inspiring that Linux has grown, that it works (eventually), and that it even exists in this commercially driven world.
- I wanted control over my system, and I wanted to learn what a computer actually does instead of turning off my brain and letting it do everything for me and then being irritated by the results.

I've now spent 4 days (morning till night, very few breaks) just trying to get my USB Broadband modem and Wacom Volito tablet to work with Ubuntu, and even though it's been very tiring and frustrating, I don't regret a second of it. Especially as it now all works (apart from right-click)...

Put more options on the poll next time!

TheWizzard

November 16th, 2006, 07:08 PM

firefox!
i was pleasantly surprised when firefox was launched. like wow, free stuff can be actually much better.

i needed to buy a laptop and winxp + office was expensive (& i didn't want to pirate). i thought that if firefox could beat microsoft, maybe a free os can also be better than windows. the beginning was difficult, but i started to love linux.
i was lucky because one colleague used linux and helped me with the first, most difficult steps.

Ubunted

November 16th, 2006, 07:11 PM

Because Windows failed to detect the Intel integrated video and Intel wireless-B adapter in my Thinkpad, even through Windows Update.

Dapper? Not a problem.

jbtito03

November 16th, 2006, 11:28 PM

Well... first of all i apologise for not putting more options or enabling multiple options.. but.. at the end its only a non serious thread :D

My story starts at in the year of 1996 - i got a old 486 box, installed freebsd and made a server (WEB, FTP, EGGDROP :D). Well.... these where the days i can remeber - no one at high school had a clue about other oses than ******* and dos (okey... amiga, comodore, atari) and internet as also networking was new for them. So i made the first website that run on that box. Oh, that was fun. One day, two years after and 6 servers later we got a new teacher/administrator who said "If it is not WIndows NT we can not have it here" <- I GOT PISSED OFF! Really...

Then the big pause steped in (i tried red hat 7 - worked perfectly until my ram got some "bugs" - and the ne freebsd) and then me and some friends opened a youth club in my town with a cyber caffe. The question they asked me was - windows 2000 or windows XP? Well... my reaction was "Open your mind" - In cyber caffes u get a lot of different people doing stupid stupid stuff - for that purpose ******* was the worst one to maintain (the best would be ghost cd and every day reinstall)

And as we where a youth club we had not had a big bugget - 0$

So i loved to install linux (fedora core 3) and actually yes - people who where surfin, using gaim, office, etc. got used to it very very quickly.

That was the year 2004 and now i dont have any windows box anywhere - i dont need it as the open source community offers everything i need (yes, even goood games).

And with linux, my "spending time with my OS" became much more interesting and actually i have to say it is always an advanture.

Not to forget the knolege about everything that goes on in my computer.

Thank you Linus, GNU and everyone in the open source community!

I LOVE IT!

Cheers

P.S. Yeah, ******* if not used right suck! Anyway, it is an OS and i think it should be respected for that. About microsoft and their philosofy and policy - f*** o** !:twisted:

beercz

November 16th, 2006, 11:45 PM

I voted for windows "upsetting me" - but that wasn't the only option. It would have been helpful if we could have chosen more than one option. I think my favoured option would have been 'Curiosity', but alas that doesn't count! (at least as far as the poll is concerned).

shining

November 16th, 2006, 11:55 PM

bigken

November 16th, 2006, 11:59 PM

was given a ubuntu 5.10 disc by friend installed though virtual pc as you can guess 1 day later windows went out the window being hooked ever since :D

qpieus

November 17th, 2006, 12:45 AM

I wanted a change, and Windows pissed me off...

Noticed my XP installation slowing down *again*, taking forever to boot *again*](*,)
Had spare computer to mess with, installed 5.10 with *zero* problems.
Soon realized that I could do everything I do on windows on linux as well.
Plus I'm a cheap*ss, so the pricetag on linux was really satisfying.

KnightWhoSaysNi

November 17th, 2006, 12:50 AM

In order to run the Miranda environment without telnetting to the university via modem.

stuh84

November 17th, 2006, 12:58 AM

Quite simply, had a spare PC of my friends to get working (he hadn't had it working for ages), and I couldn't find my Win 2K disc to install, went thru various distro's, settled on Ubuntu with it. Got bored one time once I got me laptop, with my old desktop not doing a lot, and put Ubuntu on it as well.

Just mainly curiosity more than anything, no epiphany, no holier than thou reason, just thought it could be fun.

slimdog360

November 17th, 2006, 01:07 AM

I wanted to be cool in a geek way. You know, have people come up to me, drop to their knees and say, "all hail the uber geek". I thought Id be charging through the command line doing heaps of cools things, but then I found out most everything (except for games and my printer) works better in linux then in windows.

nandasunu

November 17th, 2006, 01:51 AM

I had to write some shell scripts for a uni coursework, I wanted to be able to work at home so I needed linux... then realised how much more stable it is and the rest followed.

theicyj

November 17th, 2006, 01:55 AM

I have always enjoyed working with Linux, not sure what exactly it is about it, maybe to may things to list...

GenX

November 17th, 2006, 02:05 AM

I like the "windows pissed me off" option...Isn't that what brought most of us here to Linux in the first place?
It is what brought me over to Linux. Granted there aren't as many companies dumping major cash into OS's like Microsoft, but I am just tired of a substandard product being muscled down my throat. Once Leopard is out of Beta I will be buying a Mac. Then this box will be strictly Linux.

jnev

November 17th, 2006, 05:39 AM

windows was annoying me, and I wanted to learn more about linux and other OS's besides for windows. I started with suse 9.1 and have been using linux close to full-time since then. I don't ever want to go back to windows.

IYY

November 18th, 2006, 09:29 PM

I don't think my answer is on the list: Initially, I did it for the geek factor. I didn't think I would like it better than Windows on my main machine, even though I had a geeky dislike of Microsoft. I just wanted a challenge, and to be a part of the geeky hacker culture. I wanted to do things through the command line. I wanted to be able to customize every bit of the OS I wanted. Even as a kid I was a big fan of customizations; nothing made me happier than a computer game where the artwork was in a format I could edit. I switched the sprites in Golden Axe and made a Warcraft II mod with students from my school as units.

But of course, the nudge was that I had an old NEC 333MHz laptop that Windows wouldn't work on (I guess it had a rescue disk, but I lost it.) I installed FreeBSD on it and learned a lot about *nix systems.

I started using Ubuntu when I got a new old computer that FreeBSD didn't work on. Ubuntu auto-recognized everything and worked so well that I decided to install it on my main machine as well. I never went back to Windows (well, I might install dual-boot at some point so that I can comfortably use a webcam.)

garba

November 19th, 2006, 01:33 AM

it was when my friend pietro "umibozu" handed me a couple of redhat cd's, release 7.2... at first i couldn't stand it, then for some reason i got hooked and took up the challenge and went on trying to get my pci adsl modem to work, back then i was a total noob and took me about two weeks to make something of those tutorials, go figure... looking back all i can say is that it's been well worth it :mrgreen:

mdsmedia

November 19th, 2006, 02:12 AM

Microsoft has annoyed me for years. I dabbled in Linux a few times over the last 7-8 years. Then I heard, on a LUG mailing list, so many of the old pros talking about this Ubuntu thing. I wanted to make the change, because I like the Linux and FOSS philosophy.

In October last year XP was annoying me (actually it turned out to be Confabulator sucking up RAM like it was going out of style). I tried the Ubuntu live CD along with Knoppix and another distro whose name escapes me at the moment.

The first CD I tried didn't boot. Ubuntu was next and I was impressed with its look and feel. So I found an installation guide, installed it alongside XP, without a hitch, and the rest is history.

podunk

November 19th, 2006, 05:51 AM

Microsoft dropped support on Win 98. Don't laugh - but I liked Windows 98. It was fast and if you set it up right stable as hell.

I don't like XP. It is s_l_o_w. Plus, MS will drop support on it soon to drive folks to Vista.

If you own a small business this is going to get real expensive real quick.

I didn't like red hat or suse, I didn't like Linspire. Ubuntu was my 4th Linux set up, and I liked the look and feel. Then I tried Kubuntu and was hooked.

nickburns

November 19th, 2006, 07:00 AM

Sometimes it is fun to be in the minority, and it is always good to learn new new things. I have switched to linux and will never look back.

dada1958

November 19th, 2006, 09:52 AM

Because I wanted some change and I was getting a little bit tired of both the Steves ...

Portable_Jim

November 19th, 2006, 09:58 AM

People said it was safer, my parents had it. So one holidays I gave it a shot. The further I go, the more I see how bad Windows (all) are, and how good Linux is.

funkyade

November 19th, 2006, 10:03 AM

There's no option for "Mac OS X pissed me off". ;)

LOL. Me too... Although it was OS8 AND ******* pour moi.

Started with OpenBSD and found it baffling, then tried RH7.3, and that stayed installed for a few years with upgrades to RH9, when Fedora started I tried it didn't like, then went to FreeBSD, NetBSD, Debian, Slackware, Gentoo, and finally Ubuntu. Have stuck with Gentoo and Ubuntu, 'cause you get more 'oo'.... ;-)

Sunnz

November 19th, 2006, 10:17 AM

There is no "other" option?

I still like Windows, and in love with OSX. I started using Linux to learn it what it is like and see if I like it.

missmoondog

November 19th, 2006, 10:21 AM

yep, winblows made me mad. to expensive to keep up with upgrades.

Wnutt

November 19th, 2006, 10:46 AM

Hi!
I started with Linux because nowadays admin have to be able to master as much OS as possible.

"(good) curiosity is your friend!" is my way of life. :)

I first look for a low maintenance dsl-router/firewall. Debian was an very good answer. I used it in several context for 4 years, but always in a console-only flavor.

I decided to switched my personal laptop to Linux only a few month ago. After trying Suse Entreprise desktop (good but commercial supported only), I came across Ubuntu. A perfect match for me: wonderful support, based on Debian (which I knew already well), minimal base install and very easy to adapte (thanks to 'apt'). Really good job, thanks!

aspro

November 19th, 2006, 11:34 AM

It all began with curiosity for me, I was introduced to a CD of Redhat 6.2 (I am not certain of the exact version, but it was 6.x) by a family friend.

A few years later I was getting very competent at running most things Windows and decided that it would be fun to try something completely different! so I downloaded Redhat 8, installed it and it started a love affair that lasted until around 2004, when I was once again drawn to another operating system: Mac OS X.

The Powerbook that was my first foray into the Macintosh world was the first computer hardware that I really was just awestruck by, it was so well designed and it just seemed to be really, well, classy. I have been using Mac OS X since then as my main OS, with a version of Linux as a dual boot.

With my recent purchase of a Macbook I can now fully enjoy Linux (its amazing how little things annoy you like lack of Flash, Win32 codecs etc in PPC Linux.) I have been using Ubuntu in Virtualization software for a few months and I am being lured back into the Linux world by the openess of it and the fact that I feel much more able to help the system move forward (I have recently become more comfortable coding) and that Ubuntu seems to be pushing Linux forward in a ordered way that seems to really gel with what I would like my operating system to be.

So it seems quite likely at this stage that I may start to move towards Ubuntu as my main OS once more, though I don't think I will likely go back to the build-your-own-PC world too soon, Apple has spoiled me :).

56phil

November 19th, 2006, 05:29 PM

The price is right.
One can do more with less hardware.
The Ubuntu philosophy appeals to me.
I like to tinker
It's more stable
The Ubuntu community is great.

I could add more, but you get the point.

H4rm0ny

November 19th, 2006, 05:35 PM

Mainly pretentiousnous. I wanted to feel superior to other people.

apjone

November 19th, 2006, 06:14 PM

I started using linux because of the system problems I seem to have with Windows. I've done system repairs on computers for about 25 years now and the most problems I ever saw was with the Windows os. I've been using linux now for about a year and I could just kick myself for not trying it sooner. Better late than never I guess.
Eddie

Dito , same here . iused windows for years then found linux worked better even when i knew how to do hardly anything. now i know enough to get me by i am 100% linux at home havent looked back. plus i reload windows on my bro's box every 3 months atleast otherwise it is unusable, even though the kit is vista compatible ( :-? :-? stomach turns while saying vista, yuck!). working with windows can be symbolised as ](*,)

skierkegaard

November 19th, 2006, 06:15 PM

I read "In the beginning was the command line" by Neal Stephenson. The rest is history.

PrinceArithon

November 19th, 2006, 06:45 PM

Well it was a combonation of being mezmerized by the command line and windows ******* me off.

See I loved this command line thing, which there is in windows, but it sucks...nothing works..anyway. I fell in love with Linux and especially Tuxracer, and then when I sat down on Windows it pissed me off cuz Windows just wasn't as cool.

sanderella

November 19th, 2006, 06:59 PM

I was sick sick sick of ******* crashes, slowness and doing what it wanted to do, not what i wanted to do. Then my son-in-law, the computer teacher, told me he was changing to linux, I searched around, tried suzy (i love that little lizard-thingy), and finally found Ubuntu and Hampshire LUG. I love the community, the helpfulness, and the funny people and posts.

I have to say, tho, that I can't do without Windows completely - I have a CAD program that only works on Windows, and Ubuntu is still a big learning curve for me. I wish I was a clever clogs like you lot :D

r4ik

November 19th, 2006, 07:13 PM

Mainly pretentiousnous. I wanted to feel superior to other people.

Had a simular pair of shoes.
Gave me blisters very soon :)

zgornel

November 20th, 2006, 02:27 PM

I started using it because Windows 98 was horrible and kept randomly crashing, then used dual boot with W2k/XP (for gaming reasons :D) and now that Vista is nearly out I use only the penguin. I'd say my primary reasons for moving to linux are Windows behaviour (crashes, performance degradation), viruses and other crawlers, shareware (I hate it) and last but not least, Microsoft as a whole.

Narzuhl

November 20th, 2006, 02:56 PM

I Started just recently....why well with Vista comming out i figure now was a time for change. I also wanted an OS that made me think. I have completely switch at home now and i am loving it. X crashed the otherday after an update....thanks to these forums i was back up and running in a few minutes.

cantormath

November 20th, 2006, 03:04 PM

Well, i really wonder why we all strated using linux? Lets hear some stories :D And what is the verdict now after months/years/decade of using linux?

Jb

Cheers :cool:

Because its just better.

civic_si

November 20th, 2006, 03:58 PM

I started using it because I wanted something different and I am glad I did. After reading what Microsoft wanted to do with Vista and only transferring hardware once and no virtual machines unless you buy there best version and most expensive. That made me turn my main computer to Linux. i have been running Linux on my laptop and for server use but not on my desktop for gaming reasons but i guess i wont play games unless they run on Linux.

gexpo

November 22nd, 2006, 04:52 PM

Because i made a MISTAKE...
Why every year, with different PC's, trying to use different distro's, i NEVER go beyond the first or second screen of the setup.](*,)
In the past because ATI video cards wasn't supported more than 320x240 (256Mb Video RAM!!!),
Then because P4 DualCore wasn't supported by LINUX,
nowadays with a NEW EPIA 15000, 512MB DDR2, 120GB HDD, the setup CRASH after i choose to INSTALL (firs, on a NEW, virgin, disk).
No one had my problems in this forum, and so...I'm alone again.
Maybe Linux, this time also, is NOT for me.
I'm going to install an ancient, unused, regular bought, copy of WIN2k... Nice Bill---We *STILL* love you...
Hope in a better future.
Bye at all
Gennaro,
absolute beginner in LINUX, UNIX, XENIX and so on...
MCSE in Microsoft Windows (2003 and XP)

hoagie

November 22nd, 2006, 05:32 PM

I never had my problems with my os (windows xp).
But I was bored of all the anti-virus, registry cleaners, and also wanted a faster computer, ok it's a power pc but I believe it could run faster with Intel Pentium 4 @ 3GHz Cpu and 1.2 GB of Ram.
I tried Ubuntu at 5.10, and didn't like it. Couldn't understand how to install new apps, and didn't like the brown look.
That ;lasted for a year, then friend made me try it again at 6.06. Installed Ubuntu and everything worked out.
Now I love it.

clawlor

November 22nd, 2006, 07:33 PM

I had an old machine laying around the house(700 MHz Duron, not alotta RAM) that originally had Win ME installed. My wife wanted a PC for web access and email. Ubuntu was easy to install, Just Worked with the obscure video card, and is infinitely more stable than Win ME. So my reason, to get more life out of old hardware, isn't really in the poll.

ssalman

November 22nd, 2006, 07:59 PM

I can't find my reason on your list!!;)

I didn't switch because I hate Windows... although I do hate it, but I can work it nevertheless.

I switched because Linux is extremely intuitive. It just makes so much sense!

I run multiple versions of windows on many machines, and most are running fine for multiple years! but Linux accomplishes complicated tasks easier and with more fixablity... easy stuff in windows are no brainers, but when you get to the interesting stuff is were Linux really shines over windows.

Can't speak for OSX...Never used it for more than 15 minutes. it shouldn't be that much different since it is a BSD after all.:)

luca.b

November 22nd, 2006, 08:00 PM

I can't really remember why I started. Probably out of curiosity, back when Mandrake 7.2 was released.

Mirky

November 22nd, 2006, 09:09 PM

Why did I switch to Linux...
Ever try to lift the NT 3.51 resource kit?

Not only are the OS's 3.1,95,Bob,98,Mil,NT/W2K/XP/Vista bloated, the documentation is huge.
Going to a M$ class you end up with at least 1 huge 3 ring binder.

Linux is the Kernel.
You get everything else from another group of (Great!) people.

With M$ you get Bill and Steve ](*,)

I rest my case.

Marquis_de_Carabas

November 22nd, 2006, 09:21 PM

I chose 'Because it was free' but I meant as in speech rather than as in beer. I randomly picked up a copy of Rebel Code (http://slashdot.org/books/01/01/29/2037257.shtml) in the library one day and became amazed that a) there was an alternative to Windows and b) it fitted in so perfectly with my ideals.

The practicalities didn't go so well (getting around Windows 95 is a world away from getting Slackware 9 (the disc on the front of the first Linux magazine I found) to run on a 486 with 16mb RAM, 2gb hard drive and a completely unsupported CD-ROM drive (some sort of weird SCSI-through-parallel-port thing)) and I ended up going back to Windows 95, but the seed was planted and as soon as I got hold of some better hardware I went straight back to Linux and haven't regretted it for a moment!

garba

November 22nd, 2006, 10:48 PM

MCSE in Microsoft Windows (2003 and XP)

I think this is the first thing you gotta take care of to get linux to work on your pc :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

d_mccrummen

November 23rd, 2006, 01:18 AM

I was "guided" towards Linux by a co-worker to help in my venture to create web pages and graphic design with out spending an arm and leg on software. Mandrake was the name and confusion was the game. That almost sent me back over to the other side. Since then, Debian 3.0 and 3.1, Fedora 4 and 5, and now Ubuntu 5.10, 6.04, 6.10 and I am NOT ever going back. Its bad enough I have to have that stupid other operating system on my desktop because of work software not running on Linux. But, at work, Ubuntu 6.10 work top, Kubuntu 6.10 on my test machine, Ubuntu 6.04/Win Xp on my Laptop, and at home Ubuntu 6.10 laptop, Ubuntu 6.10 server, and Kubuntu 6.10 desktop. I have experimented with DSL, Knoppix, Slackware, and bunches of others but Ubuntu is my preferred OS of choice.

sethmahoney

November 23rd, 2006, 02:10 AM

You forgot "Because I'm a huge nerd."

doobit

November 23rd, 2006, 03:15 AM

I was curious when I heard about all the free software, not Linux to begin with. Then I found out about a commercial video editing program for Linux, and wanted to write a review of it, so I had to learn about Linux too. After that I was hooked.

Bezmotivnik

November 23rd, 2006, 05:50 AM

I originally tried to use Linux eight years ago due to the massive instabilities of Windows98, which is a simply terrible OS.

At that time, I never found a distribution that was adequate. I tried many. I go back to CP/M, so I know how to work with computers in the non-GUI mode. Still, desktop Linux was just junk then and far more trouble than it was worth.

When W2000 came out, I immediately went to it and got rid of Linux and Windows98/SE. It was a huge improvement in stability and I no longer had any compelling need for a non-Windows OS. I went to XP when it came out and it was fine too.

A couple of years ago, I started getting really slammed with malware in XP, so I tried Linux again. It was more trouble than the malware. Eventually, I got Ubuntu 5.04, which was almost adequate for my online use. I doinked around with it, but it wasn't very good. Subsequent Ubuntu releases had less problems and bugs, but it wouldn't support most of my hardware or tasks. It was OK for most online stuff, though.

Eventually malware countermeasures in XP became adequate for safe online use when exercising reasonable common sense.

When I went wireless and got a notebook, that was the end of Ubuntu for a while as Linux wireless support is just terrible. My wireless net was high-security, and it is just prohibitively difficult to set this up in Ubuntu or any other Linux with the most common wireless devices. With the reduced malware problems in XP, Ubuntu wasn't worth the wireless hassle.

Eventually I went to a neighborhood open WiFi system that is unencrypted and served from various repeaters. In this stupid open mode, I could get one of my many wireless devices to work in Ubuntu 6.06, so I got back online in Ubuntu for a couple of weeks before 6.10 came out. It would not work with my wireless, so I blew it off and went back to 6.06. That's where it stands right now. I can use Ubuntu 6.06 for online stuff with my office Ubuntu box, but it doesn't adequately support my "Linux-supported" office peripherals nor my notebook's "Linux-supported" internal wireless, so most of the use is still on my main office XP box or my XP notebook. Ubuntu is sort of superfluous at this point, I guess. :-k

I like Ubuntu all right, but I'm not going to waste a lot of time fighting it. I've been using computers for about twenty-five years, so I've been there and done that when it comes to the business of vertical learning curves and spending weeks under the hood trying to get a system fully functional. There's no need for that in 2006. Doing things the hard way doesn't mean you're smart, it means you're stupid. Ubuntu's on the right track by making things easier, and in general seems to be doing a good job, if progressing slower than needed -- but that's Linux's fatal curse: Not enough resources and organization for real development, and what little there is is squandered in diffuse, redundant projects, hostile forks, jejune philosophical quarrels and vanity distros. Every geek a king. [-(

deanlinkous

November 23rd, 2006, 05:56 AM

:-#

Trekos

November 23rd, 2006, 08:42 AM

I got tired of spending 20% of my time behind a computer, defragging, criticaly updating, virus sacanning, spyware scanning, messing with the registry and all those tasks that are necessary to perform when running an "other-OS" system.
And then I had a bad experience with a fried mobo and the activation M$ thingy and kaboom !
Linux it was!
Money was never an issue, I had always purchased Windows disks like I have with my first Linux distro.
Later I realized that using Linux gave me the freedom I needed and did not make me feel like a criminal using software that may not even fitted my needs.

Keep Penguining!