Amen to that!
Many friends come to me for computer related problems.
Asking for a reinstall or removing crap like virusses/trojans/bloatware etc.

And every time i reinstall i tell them; why not try linux? But they are to used to Windows, everybody uses it so... :-/ little bit simple minded i guess

whoaa /... i know ... i first had a laptop with 512 mb ram and 40GB HDD with xp on it . I learned that windows xp from like 2004 and gone through another laptop with 256 mb ram and don't remember the hdd size - also with xp - it was awfully slow . with that laptop i once downloaded a 700 mb iso file . yea sure , i burned it iso and then had a .iso file on the cd . i booted it and ... lolz ... i got sad because it didnt work.

i left it , cause i didnt have anny other cd s around .

then in 2008 - i got another laptop - this one is a good one - i still have it - 4gb ram .. 250 gb hdd and dual core intel cpu -this one had vista on it --- well .. it ran well ... i didnt get any virus nor got any antivirus on it . i still consider vista is a good os ... hmmm...

i used vista and downloaded lots of stuff. i started searching for windows xp live cd because thas what i wanted - instead, i found knoppix - i burned this one properly - i had a scrathed dvd around - i think i still have that one as a memory
i searched for live cd because i had my ass scared to not lose all those gb ...

i gave it a shot at ubuntu 8.04 after a lot of documentation and reading i knew now something about debian and about linux .


was completely awesome . i felt like in matrix or something like that . i was all cool copy and pasting commands from online tutorials )

had ubuntu till 2010 when i now changed completely to ubuntu - before i had a dualboot - ubuntu was screaming in the 10 gb vista allowaed me to steal from it ..

thats how i got to linux. i'm using it right now . i don't ever want to get that teach savvy to know so much about linux as you guys , instead , i will wait to see it improving, and getting a better and better out of the box experience - right off the LIVE CD

It just works. I just had to learn it. then it really worked for me. But it only does what I tell it to do. LOL

When I first heard about Linux, switching wasn't my end game, it just, err happened.

I first tried Linux because I was curious about it, I had no intention of switching back then. As I learned I started using Linux for server type applications, a little web server and mail server, etc. I was still using Windows as a desktop environment.

Then, after a while I started dual booting using Windows for some tasks, and Linux for others, as time went on I started using Linux more and more and Windows less and less. Eventually I stopped using Windows for day to day tasks. And now? It would take considerable effort to move away from Linux on my production desktop.

When I was young, I was a geek and still am a geek. My hobbies were computers and electronics.

I heard of linux from magazines and forums. I was using a unix shell account back in the day. I wanted a Sun sparc system but the price was out of my ballpark.

Window$ was too simple and it bored me quickly.

I wanted an OS to match my geekness. So, linux, the BSDs and unix are my favorite operating systems.

- Cheers

Im just a curious journeyman with a thirst of knowledge for computers.

There was a moment in my life where i got to hear a OS War between MS, Mac and Linux.

So i decided that before i criticized a OS i will try them out so that my words have a true value and not some made-up Bull$.
Thats how i started using Linux.

I still use my Windows machine (gaming mainly, i got most of my info there)

So far, I try my hardest and mostly compliments come out when I start a sentence with "Linux".
Its a really good OS.

I never switched from Windows, because I never had it! In my working days I used MSDOS. At home, I used Qdos on the Sinclair QL. Then I switched to a Q60 computer, double-booting Qdos and Linux, and finally to a home-built PC with Linux. There was no real reason to consider anything else.

Since my first and last meeting with MS Windows (3.11 for workgroups) in college back in 1997, I have never had any MS Windows installed on my own HD.



Never had Mac OS X and am not interested in having it.





Never had any BSD installed on my HD and I am not interested in having it.



It was Debian back at the time in 1997, with Debian up to 2009, when I discovered Arch linux . Why switch from Debian to Arch ? Hmmm...hard to explain, perhaps philosophically explainable, but I'll rather keep it personal and to myself; it's not the topic anyway.




I never had any pda.

I am still using Ubuntu after 6 years! It is an incredible operating system and I absolutely love the command line programs available. The ease of upgrading and updating is awesome! I love vim too for easy text editing. Too many great things to list here! My Ubuntu box remains on 24/7 as I have programs that run all day. I introduced my mom to Linux 5 years ago and she has not looked back. One less family member having computer issues! I recommend Linux every chance I get! Let's keep telling the world about this great OS!

Catch me on twitter: @tsairox

Linux is great and I use it most of the time. Ubuntu is the workhorse but other distros provide a refreshing variety. However, I do need to switch to windows for official documents because documents made in linux often show disturbed formatting when opened in ms word/powerpoint etc. Office software needs to be perfected, especially for large sized documents. Also device support like printers, scanners etc is extremely important and it is getting better every day.

Well, thank goodness for things like WINE. I use all OSs, but use Unix and Linux the most. Sometimes you have to go with what is compatible with the masses and gets the job done...

Because linux and unix are the BEST OSes's in the universe!!!

Curiosity got the best of me. I really had no idea what I was doing or where I should start but as you can see many years later I'm still using Linux.

I never "switched" to Linux and I get defensive and resentful when people suggest that Linux is somehow better than Windows or vice-versa. Both Operating Systems are excellent at what they do!

I guess I was lucky, when I bought my very first computer in 1999 a co-worker of mine handed me two books: The Complete Windows 95 Command Reference and The Red Hat 6 Linux Bible. I didn't know any better so I installed Red Hat as a duel boot along with Windows 98 SE.

I ultimately went on to become a Windows Developer but I never lost my love for Linux and have migrated from Red Hat to TurboLinux, then onto SuSe and LibraNet, then to SlackWare and Ubuntu, and finally onto Puppy, Fedora, and Arch. Of course, Linux is mostly a hobby for me but that just demonstrates how much I love it!

I got sick of fixing my own XP installation so I bought Vista believing the newer system would work better. I was sadly mistaken as Vista was much worse than XP ever was. After 2 months of fighting with Vista I got out an old set of RedHat8 installation disks I had. I like the look of it but could never get it to work. So I searched the net for Linux and found Ubuntu Feisty. I installed it on my old Acer Extensa laptop and apart from an hour getting my wireless to work using ndiswrapper it worked without any problems. I have been with Linux, Debian now and also my own version of Debian called Cobber, ever since and it is my only OS.