I've told the story before . . . .

A friend of mine gave me an old computer--an IBM PC 300 (one of the original Pentiums). I had heard about this Linux thing, so I figured I'd try it out. I loaded up Knoppix (that was a long time ago and Knoppix booted in KDE 3.x). I liked what I saw.

I tried to install some distro or other I forget what, but it wouldn't cooperate. Then I stumbled over Slackware. I knew nothing about it, but I got it to install (since I was an old DOSsie, cfdisk made sense to me). I mucked about a bit, but didn't really do much.

Then, about a month later, a fellow in a training class I was teaching told me that he was self-hosting his website with Linux and noip.com (back then, it was still "no-ip.com"). I said to myself, "That sounds like fun," so I set out to make it happen. That was in May 2005. In August, I brought my self-hosted website live.

Six months later, I put Slackware 10.x on my personal laptop, which was my primary computer.

I haven't looked back.

I got my first Windows PC in '98... and thus started my love/hate relationship with Windows. I had read about Linux, but didn't get my hands on it until Knoppix in the early 2000s. I played around with it until Slackware released v10.0 in '04. Since then I've used Slack on four desktops and three laptops. My last desktop never had any version of Windows on it at all, and the only reason this one does is for testing purposes. I prefer the Linux way of doing things over the Windows way. I prefer using a system that just keeps running without crashing. I prefer using a system that's more secure. I prefer using a system that properly utilizes all of the hardware I've chosen (I built this machine from scratch and Win7 can only seem to use a very generic driver with my graphics card). I do have to admit that an OS that's free is a big plus.

I first had windows 3.1 on a 286. Can't even remember why other than I didn't want to be left out. After that I way overpaid for Windows 95 on an AT form factor platform. I bought Corel Linux with Wordperfect and the rest of their office suite that was supposed to run on Wine which was part of the package. It was a miserable flop, never worked at all, just lost the money because I couldn't get a refund. Later I got Red Hat or something, which had nothing much that I could use for work or fun. I learned that Microsoft was actively working against Linux innovation at every step. This is why i use Linux. Windows is third rate and an inferior product, a mostly bought or stolen platform which only dominates because of the crookedness of its inventors. Today Ubuntu has loads of free stuff that works well, LibreOffice isn't exactly a close second to Fritz, but I can get by with it mostly. Over the years I have paid thousands for Microsoft products and stuff that only runs on Windows. Tragic but true. I joined the Free Software Foundation for a couple of years. I like the principle.

I was naturally a tool maker - even on the mainframe I started on. Later, I came across the wonderful book, The C Programming Language by Kernighan and Plauger and got C running on my home built CP/M system.

Awhile after that, I talked my way into a job at a bank programming bizarre teller terminals in Z8000 assembly language. The development machine ran UNIX System 3. I loved it and quite awhile later when I discovered Linux, there was a local lug to install it for me on my 266 MHz Pentium II.

The whole thing was a bit of a steep learning curve, but I loved the shell and pipes and the idea of sharing everything.

Besides loving it, what keeps me on Linux is that every year or so, my bad memories of Windows and other proprietary software (like CICS!) grow a bit dim and I boot up Windows. After a few hours of waiting for software updates to complete, updates for other programs asking to run on top of updates that are already running, and things asking me for License keys and reboots, I remember how much greener the grass really is and see just how quickly I can reboot back into a world that makes sense!

This is more than enough for me - even without considering M$'s unethical business practices, the money it costs for applications, and the fact that with very few exceptions, I can get everything I want for free in applications that are at least as good as the paid versions.

And, when I don't like something or have a better idea, I can really directly ask the developers and have a fair chance that they might develop it! (and some small suggestions I've made have been implemented.)

Or, when the project is easy enough, I can just write it myself (with lots of help from others when I need it.)

If you had a choice and you weren't burdened by years of just Windows experience (or maybe if you were! ), why wouldn't you choose Linux or BSD?

I first started using linux when I started learning C. Puppy linux was the simplest way I found at the time to get a C compiler working, and ever since I've found programming on a linux system easier than windows or mac.

I also greatly appreciate the degree of user interface customization: I'm perfectly happy with my heavily configured xmonad/kde setup and lots of urxvt/tmux sessions.

The powerful shell utilities also make life much easier, plus the sheer number of CLI programs such as email clients, music players, etc. for those that prefer typing to clicking.

In short, linux lets me do exactly what I want quickly and comfortably.

Windows uses paper thin fonts and generally it all looks sharper on a Linux setting [Ubuntu for me; also just installed my first Slackware]
A great community of chaps and chappesses
Also no horsing around with AVG and the like was and still is a huge relief
Not making the Great Vaccinator richer a HUGE relief
People used their brains and creativity to give the world hugely brilliant tools for FREE ::: now that is a world we can be happy to support and be part of ... LINUX is latin for off-the-beaten-track

I started using libre software on my windows PCs at home and work.

After a while I thought "why just applications? why not the operating system as well?" so I started playing with Linux at home by dual booting with win98. Another while after that I realised how good it was to have everything work (eventually, in some cases) reliably.

When I left my then day job I no longer needed any windows compatibility so at home I went Linux only.

It installs, boots and updates much faster than Windows, does all I need to do with a computer (very minor exceptions), and it's free.

Also, I will never go past Windows 7 so it's necessary...

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Because it's a global community effort, self-governed grassroot operating system.
Because it's free in every sense.
Because there's good reason to trust in it.
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1 members found this post helpful.

Stable, free, safe, runs in low specs pcs, nice support community, little to no danger for viruses. Much better than windows in any way for me (I dont play games)

1 members found this post helpful.

I had a very slow start with Linux, I installed it in 1999, and after that I always used computers with a Windows dual-boot. However I almost never used the Linux partition , usually red-hat. This changed in 2005, when I moved to another company, and I needed to show that I was confident with Linux systems. I installed Ubuntu in my personal computer as the main OS, and from then I started looking for substitutes to all windows program that I used previously, I discovered Rosegarden, Audacity, Frescobaldi ( lilypond).
In 2010, I still helped my mother with her windows computer, but tired of struggling to find illegal copies and cracks for windows program, I told her that she needed to start using Ubuntu, mainly to surf the web and watch movies. She is still using it today, no more antivirus and cracks to find.

Simplicity of installation, stability, lack of junk I don't need, range of software available, just so good to use.

I learned to use Fedora, can't remember what version, as a firewall/router, mainly IPtables. Got very curious but was stuck with Win because of work and I had to support users using Win. I always tried to implement Linux and open software wherever possible. Setup DNS's and web servers on Linux and setup Nagios on Linux to monitor Linux machines, windows machines, switches, routers, printers and phones. Just loved it. Have used Xubuntu and like it a lot. It runs much faster than Win on the same hardware.
I think the question should be, why don't you use Linux? Or what are the reasons you don't use Linux.

When you get 'round toit, install VirtualBox (get it from Oracle) and you will be a happy, happy camper. Just be sure to give VirtualBox a lot more disk than you think (20G is not enough with any applications installed; e.g., TurboTax, QuickBooks [a real hog] and maybe couple of other things). 50- 100G is a Good Idea with today's drives and you probably won't run out of space; what the heck, you're not going to be doing much work in Windows when you really think about it and the rule is off you can take, on you can't put so give it a lot of elbow room.

I run VirtualBox on a separate disk partition that is mounted as /var/lib/virtual, I have run it as a separate drive (one half of a 500G drive that I use for back up); works fine either way depending on your hardware. The software from Oracle installs in /opt, you put the storage space anywhere you want it just keep in mind that it can be hard to expand your virtual drive -- make it big.

Hope this helps some.

I started with Linux in 2008 because I was really fed up with Windows. So I tried a dualboot with Ubuntu (7.10 it was I think) and I really sweated it out (You know:will it work?)But since then I go for Linux all the way. It is easy to use and yes,in the beginning there is a learning process but once you got that it is just beautiful! And yes,in the beginning there were some problems getting a wireless(with ndiswrapper etc) but those things are past history now.
Right now I am running Mint 1.7 on this laptop and yes I still have it in dualboot with a Win7 but I hardly use Windows anymore.
A very happy Linux user.