Why Linux?

[kaldor]

1) Why did you choose Linux over other OSs?
2) Why did you choose Ubuntu over other distros?
3) Why did you choose the desktop environment that you did?


My answers:

1) Windows is too unstable, costs too much, and gets too slow. Mac is similar to Linux, but expensive. Linux is stable, free, and doesn't get bloated like other systems (Windows mainly)

2) Ubuntu is easiest, and I'm a noob to Linux :)

3) Gnome looks more unique to me than KDE does.

[elvinatom]

1. I resent Microsoft/Apple
2. I kinda grew into the linux world with it - so I know it best
3. Gnome is the most comfortable for me, blackbox I like for it's speed

[Ozor Mox]

1. I began to realise that Windows was a bit crap, and thought of buying a Mac at first, but then remembered the Ubuntu CD a friend had given me. I gave it a try, loved it, and have use it ever since.

2. The live CD was given to me by a friend, and I found it easy to use. Now, I still like it for its simplicity, but also that it lets you customise and dig in deep if you want to. It doesn't restrict you.

3. Again, it came on the live CD, so at first it was all I knew of Linux desktops. I have tried KDE and Xfce and like them, but I still stick with GNOME for my main desktop and laptop, mostly because it is what I'm now familiar with.

[bufsabre666]

1) cause i just kinda got hooked, it moves faster than windows, i can run windows in a virtualbox and it goes faster cause i dont have to run security software, just my games

2) i dont, my main desktop uses opensuse, the one im on now uses ubuntu, my school laptop and my programing desktop both run arch and gentoo in dual boot. i love all three of them, but ubuntu is always nice

3) gnome on everything but opensuse, i use kde3 there, kde to me just looks ugly on everything else but opensuse has it streamlined so it looks and runs very nice

[DrMega]

1) Why did you choose Linux over other OSs?
2) Why did you choose Ubuntu over other distros?
3) Why did you choose the desktop environment that you did?

1) I had Windows XP Media Centre Edition. It crashed every few minutes. It crashed wile recording a one off gig by Pink Floyd. That was the final straw. It was either kick the machine up and down the street, or change the OS.

2) Recommendation from a freind, after trying several other less satisfactory OS's. I don't mind tinkering with my machine because I can, but I don't want to have to. Ubuntu seemed to meet that criteria better than any others I tried or read about.

3) I was happy with Gnome, but tried KDE, Xfce, and FluxBox. Gnome is best all-rounder, KDE is good for people who are more reluctant about leaving the familiarity of Windows XP, Xfce is good and lightweight, I couldn't get away with Flux though, to much work required from me.

[dje]

1) http://www.whylinuxisbetter.net - puts it much better than i would :D

2) my first linux distro (because it was the one i'd heard of the most) so my sentimental favourite ;)

3) gnome because it's lean and mean ie it's clean looking, works fast and is powerful, i also like openbox for its uber uber simplicity

[ibutho]

1) Why did you choose Linux over other OSs?
2) Why did you choose Ubuntu over other distros?
3) Why did you choose the desktop environment that you did?


My answers:

1) Windows is too unstable, costs too much, and gets too slow. Mac is similar to Linux, but expensive. Linux is stable, free, and doesn't get bloated like other systems (Windows mainly)

2) Ubuntu is easiest, and I'm a noob to Linux :)

3) Gnome looks more unique to me than KDE does.


Linux is very flexible and customisable. Its also free as in freedom and money.
I don't use Ubuntu as my main distro. I prefer openSUSE although I use other distros.
I prefer KDE over GNOME because KDE is more customisable and has a multitude of applications from KDE and third party developers.

[zmjjmz]

1) Way better than MacOS.
2) First one I heard about, too lazy to go to something else.
3) I actually have several DE's installed.
I'm just too lazy to use anything other than GNOME/Compiz full time.

[cardinals_fan]

1) Why did you choose Linux over other OSs?
2) Why did you choose Ubuntu over other distros?
3) Why did you choose the desktop environment that you did?

1. Configurablility. I want to control my system, not have it control me.
2. I don't. I dual-boot Slackware and NetBSD. Both are powerful, clean, and customized for me. When I first started, I used Ubuntu for its ease of use.
3. I use a tiling window manager because I like tiling. I use Xmonad because it's light and configurable. If I had to use a DE, I would use KDE for it's speed and configurability.

[Lizzy]

1) Because Windows XP blew my Laptop and slowed him down plus the drivers didn't work. Security was another issue. And i needed a challenge, a friend bet i wouldn't dare to install Ubuntu Linux since i'm a girl....No Joke :-D

2)Ubuntu was recommended to me. Beleive it was Hoary. so i gave it a try and i was hooked. After that i tried all sorts of distros dual booting just for fun.

3)Gnome, because it's clean and fast.

[piousp]

1) Why did you choose Linux over other OSs?
2) Why did you choose Ubuntu over other distros?
3) Why did you choose the desktop environment that you did?


My answers:

1) Pretty much what everyone says.

2) Feels nicer, easy to configure/recommend

3) KDE is just pure power. Productivity++. I have tried GNOME, XFCE, Fluxbox (wm), windowmaker(wm) and E17 (not sure about this one). I prefer KDE (3 or 4).

[Barrucadu]

1) I like it more, I can do what I want just as easily as I can in Windows at the expense of a little functionality in some places - but the lack of price makes up for that a thousand-fold.

2) I don't. I used Ubuntu because a friend nagged me to then I went distro-hopping earlier this year and ended up on Arch. I prefer it to Ubuntu because I build the whole thing from the ground up so I know exactly what is on my computer.

3) Openbox, it is simple, lightweight, and fast. I have 2GB of RAM but that is no reason to spend it all on fancy effects.

[Fedz]

1) All the above in all honesty and I passionately believe in open source, even when I was on Window$.

2) More luck than management if I remember correctly ;-) I used the live CD, thought it was fine and went on with install.

3) It (Gnome) installed with Ubuntu when performing #2 (above).

[sub2007]

1) Why did you choose Linux over other OSs?

Because Linux does everything I need it to and I genuinely enjoyy using it - my OS isn't just something I have to use, it's been tweaked to be exactly how I want it. On the whole it's faster and I love customising and Linux gives more customisability than other OSs. I also try to support open source whenever I can (and even on Windows I always endeavored to use FOSS where possible). I just love the idea that a whole OS as well as all the software that comes with it can be created for free with mainly volunteer effort, it's just such an enormous achievement and that makes it more enjoyable to use.

2) Why did you choose Ubuntu over other distros?

It was the first one I tried (back in Breezy) and the one I always seem to come back to. It's always worked the best for me, most distros have had problems with something or other. Plus the community is awesome!

3) Why did you choose the desktop environment that you did?

I always used GNOME and preferred it to KDE, even though I like most KDE apps I never really liked the DE itself. I tried XFCE because I wanted more customisability and haven't switched back. It feels like GNOME but it's fast and efficient and has tons more customisability (even though it may be slightly harder sometimes). Xfwm4 and Thunar I think are much better than their GNOME default counterparts (Metacity and Nautilus respectively). And it enables you to do everything you would normally be able to do in GNOME (including running Compiz) so I really have no reason to use GNOME over XFCE. I've never really tried Fluxbox or any Window Managers as a Desktop, I guess I just like having the whole desktop environment.

[stchman]

1) Why did you choose Linux over other OSs?
2) Why did you choose Ubuntu over other distros?
3) Why did you choose the desktop environment that you did?


My answers:

1) Windows is too unstable, costs too much, and gets too slow. Mac is similar to Linux, but expensive. Linux is stable, free, and doesn't get bloated like other systems (Windows mainly)

2) Ubuntu is easiest, and I'm a noob to Linux :)

3) Gnome looks more unique to me than KDE does.

1. I had always been curious about Linux and tried it in the past. I found it to be not very usable until Ubuntu. My first laptop was a Vista only laptop that ran Vista like cr@p. So I was moved to Ubuntu.

2. Ubuntu had the reputation of being user friendly on an everyday basis.

3. Gnome is what came with Ubuntu. I tried KDE before and preferred Gnome's simplicity.

[timzak]

1) I chose linux because finances are tight and linux and all the applications are free.

2) I chose Ubuntu because it was advertised more than any other OS and had good "word of mouth".

3) I chose gnome because it was the default DE in Ubuntu. By the time I learned enough to try other DEs, I was already used to gnome. I've spent quite a bit of time with xfce and like it for the most part. I've spent very little time with kde, and did not like it (at least the default implementation of it). It actually seemed less like Windows (other than the blue colors) than gnome. I was confused by the huge number of configuration options and didn't like the default panel style (too big and cartoony for me).

I'm sure that if I'd tried Kubuntu first, I would have gotten used to it and preferred it to gnome. But that's not how it happened for me. :-)

[timzak]

I tried XFCE because I wanted more customisability and haven't switched back. It feels like GNOME but it's fast and efficient and has tons more customisability (even though it may be slightly harder sometimes). Xfwm4 and Thunar I think are much better than their GNOME default counterparts (Metacity and Nautilus respectively). And it enables you to do everything you would normally be able to do in GNOME (including running Compiz) so I really have no reason to use GNOME over XFCE.

I really like XFCE too, but the deal-breaker for me is no browsing of samba shares in Thunar out of the box. Yes, you can hack it to work, or use Nautilus instead, but I wasn't happy with either of those options. Is this something that you use and if so, how do you do it?

[Fedz]

I have never paid for any Window$ variant anyway plus w32 freeware software is readily available everywhere.

I've donated more to Canonical/Ubuntu than I have ever paid for Window$ and or any Window$ software :-)

[sub2007]

I really like XFCE too, but the deal-breaker for me is no browsing of samba shares in Thunar out of the box. Yes, you can hack it to work, or use Nautilus instead, but I wasn't happy with either of those options. Is this something that you use and if so, how do you do it?

I actually use Konqueror, even though it's KDE it works really well! It's pretty much all I use it for but it works seemlessly and out of the box. You won't find anything better than Konqueror IMO and it's what I'd use even if I had GNOME.

[Daggo]

1) Curiosity
2) Someone recommended it to me
3) Gnome installed with it. First one I worked with and I stuck with it.

[Lord Xeb]

1) Why did you choose Linux over other OSs?
First let me explain what happened:
I ordered a copy of Ubuntu from Ubunt.com because I have always want to screw around with Linux. I was also looking for an alternative to linux and whated to something that suited the bill (I had stumbled upon it using StumbleUpon >_>). When I got it, my main impulse was to try a dual-boot (I just got my laptop which was the first computer I ever "owned"). After booting up into it, and checking it out, I decided to install. I split my partition in half and installed (but I didn't defrag my windows multiple times e_e. that wasn't a smart idea) Ubuntu on the newly created Partition. Then I rebooted and too my horror, I got an error on Grub and it wouldn't allow me to boot. I looked every where and found ways to make it work but I didn't understand what the guides were talking about. After looking for over a week and not finding any user friendly simple guides (but then I did when I went to my moms :/), I said screw it, reformatted, then installed Ubuntu. Ever since I have not looked back :D (unless it was for gaming)

Now let me answer the question: I chose linux becuase I have always wanted to try linux and I wanted something that didn't get viruses (but when it did, they were a rare occasion).

2) Why did you choose Ubuntu over other distros?
I actually stumbled upon Ubuntu using stumble upon >_>. I read up on it and said it was simple enough to use. Now I love Ubuntu!

3) Why did you choose the desktop environment that you did?

I chose Gnome because it worked like a Mac and love Macs <_< So I stuck with it; but I have never tried KDE. I cannot say much if I haven't tried something now can I?

[RebounD11]

1) Why did you choose Linux over other OSs?
2) Why did you choose Ubuntu over other distros?
3) Why did you choose the desktop environment that you did?

1) the only other OS I used is Windows, the reason I switched: mainly viruses and secondly system requirements

2)I didn't. I tried a lot of distros (and will continue to search for the better one) and stuck with Fedora and openSUSE for the moment.

3)I started on KDE, but when I realised that except K3b and (not all the time) Amarok all the apps I use are either GTK either ran through Wine, I switched to Gnome. Now I use Fluxbox for work because it's FAST and Gnome for show-off because it has Compiz-Fusion (some will probably say that Xfce is fast too and has CF too - not fast enough I say, and besides I got used to Gnome).

[gameryoshi600]

1. I do not want to spend money to buy windows or mac
2. Ubuntu has a good community and support
3. Gnome came with ubuntu and I am used to it.

[nicol_bolas]

1) Why did you choose Linux over other OSs?
2) Why did you choose Ubuntu over other distros?
3) Why did you choose the desktop environment that you did?


1) It is free and I refuse to buy (or steal) software much less an OS. Had problems with viruses and other malware.
2) It was the one I found wile trying to fix windows (found out glass has to be replaced when broken:lolflag:)
3) gnome came with ubuntu I slightly dislike KDE.

[Sealbhach]

I bought a laptop preloaded with Vista and I thought... "I can't go on like this. It's horrible".

I saw a news story about Mark Shuttleworth and Ubuntu 8.04 being user friendly so I downloaded the ISO.


I used to work for M$ once too, in admin. Didn't like it much.


Prefer Gnome, KDE looks too blue, like an early version of windows.


.

[arsenic23]

1.) Security, easy configuration, large open source software library.

2.) I prefer Debian and Ubuntu is the closest to what I want out of the box. Also these forums were very helpfull back when I was first learning on Breazy.

3.) I like a full featured DE so it's between Gnome or KDE pretty much. I also dislike how everything in KDE is tied together ( and back when I used to mess around with Red Hat KDE ran like a dog on my K6 ), so I'm very used to Gnome.

[Twitch6000]

1.I like toying with things and xp has given me enough hell.
2.I don't use ubuntu for my main.I use PClinuxOS and Arch.
3.Well I like everything.My favorite would probably be XFCE due to being lighter and still nice looking.