I am conducting research for a mini-ethnography I am writing. The subculture I chose for my paper was the Linux subculture and it's users. If anyone has the time to answer any or all of these questions, it would be greatly appreciated.

Please try to be as descriptive as possible.
1. How long have you been using Linux?
2. How and why did you start using Linux?
3. What keeps you devoted to Linux?
4. Does Linux benefit you? If so, how?
5. What are your views on other operating systems (i.e. Windows, Mac OSx) ?
6. Which distribution of Linux do you use? Why?
7. Have you used other distributions in the past? If so, which ones and what made you change?
8. Do you use Linux for your work? If so, does it benefit your work?

Also, feel free to add any additional information about your Linux and computer background. The paper I am writing is more focused on the typical Linux user, rather than Linux itself.

Thank you!

I guess you want people to just answer in this topic?

1. I first started using Linux in 2003, which is when broadband Internet access became available where I live (at least, at a reasonable price). The first thing I downloaded after the broadband got connected was the Slackware 9.0 install CD. Prior to 2003 I kept a close eye on Linux and it's development, but simply couldn't get a hold of a disc without buying one through the mail.

2. I really liked the concept of an OS built by the people, for the people. I had long been unhappy with Microsoft's development process and ideals; I didn't think it was right that a piece of hardware I paid for was doing things I couldn't control, be aware of, or improve.

3. While Windows and Mac OS have improved a lot in the near decade I have been running Linux, they still don't offer me any compelling reason to switch.

4. As I said earlier, I don't think it's right that I don't have 100% control over the hardware I paid for. I want to be able to see and change any process running on my machine, so that I know everything it is doing is to my best interests. In addition, some of the work I have gotten into in my personal time has gotten to the point that I simply couldn't replicate it in Windows. Projects like bt_rng would be difficult to impossible to do on a closed source OS due to limitations on the way software can do things like access hardware.

5. I really like Mac OS, and if I was forced to use a commercial OS I would go with that. Being a UNIX-based OS, I like the similarities between it and Linux. The fact that there is a Terminal available out of the box with a highly-developed UI on top, really makes me kind of envious. I think that's where Linux should be headed, a unified UI that works extremely well and is attractive, while still keeping the advanced functionality under the hood for those who want it. As for Windows, I it's steadily improved over the years, but it's still something I couldn't possibly use for any length of time. I do respect that with Windows 8 they are finally throwing out a lot of the old design paradigms, which I think has held the OS back in general. Things like being able to run the Server version of Windows 8 without a GUI is absolutely a step in the right direction.

6/7. My primary distribution is Slackware, though I do have a few machines running different distributions for various uses. The machine I'm on right now is actually my wife's which is running Kubuntu. I like Slackware because it is the most UNIX like of the main Linux distributions, and gives me complete control of the system. I also really appreciate the fact that, with only a few exceptions, Slackware delivers packages as close to their vanilla state as possible. I've been burned in the past by distros that modify software packages for their own use when I tried to apply patches or make modifications. This really gets to me in Ubuntu (and it's variants) where simple tools are replaced with bloated GUI versions, or configuration files are needlessly modified so that the original developer's documentation is nearly useless.

8. Absolutely. As a network administrator I have converted a few large-ish networks over to Linux, and have always had excellent results. Security, stability, and performance have always increased over the Windows-based system's that I was replacing. As for setting up and maintaining servers, I simply won't work on Windows anymore. I have had Windows server's compromised in the past, and I won't go down that road again.

Hi, could you be so nice and specify the prefered way of answering (forum post/PM/Email)... Anyway, here goes :

1) 7 years.

2) I saw it at my dad's work, and there was ClanBomber installed. I wanted to play at home, so I got him to bring me Mandake. (I was 14)

3) I love problem solving, and to tailor things I use to my specific needs. And lately I became kind of a control freak about my computers, no other 'mainstream' OS provides me the control linux does.

4) Thousands of free (If no Free as in speech is available, I take free as in beer) applications are just one command away. It allows me great flexibility. Also see answer to question 3.

5) Windows tries to play the flexible system, while locking you in at the same time. MacOS clearly states that you're locked in, no games. FreeBSD unfortunately isn't up to speed on recent developments. If I was to recommend something for the non-technical user (and myself for a no-tinkering machine), MacOS would be it.

6) Chakra on my laptop, Gentoo on my desktop. Gentoo provides the flexibility I want, as well as very recent software. Chakra provides the KDE environment I want, with the least bloat possible, and without the compilation times of Gentoo.

7) I left Mandrake because I needed to upgrade the kernel, and change is good. Got Ubuntu and found it got too much in my way (you could say "too user friendly").

8) For my studies, I do. benefits: I have a very easy installation process of a development environment. It forced me to use english, so my technical vocabulary is up to speed.

From my answers you can deduce that I'm more of a desktop user than an admin (for now). Although I'm capable of writing bash scripts and basic programs, I have no experience in maintaining a network.

1. 3 1/2 years
2. I was fed up with the bugs and bad performance of Microsoft.
I did a little research into the different Linux distributions, burned three CDs and tried the systems.
3. 1) It works better than Microsoft. 2) The freedom to configure and customise a system any way a person wants. 3) That it is free is a bonus.
4. Yes. As stated in #3, it works very well.
5. Windows is garbage. Apple is all right. BSD appears to be good, but is too difficult for non-programmers to use.
6. Debian. It is the best that I have tried.
7. I started with Ubuntu. I switched when they changed to an inferior new design. I then tried Mandriva, Fedora and OpenSuse, before settling with Debian, but Slackware will soon get a trial.
8. I do not use computers at work, so the answer is No, usually. However, I occasionally do stuff at home with Linux that I take to work. So it benefits my work on rare occasions.

@MS3FGX: nice to see someone geographically nearby for a change.

Hmm first discovered it in 2003 and hated it mainly because the distro I discovered was RedHat Linux 9 and had zero auto config for the drivers on my machine. I didn't pick it up again until 2005 and have learned it in depth enough that I'm now a systems administrator at a large University (Drexel). S I guess you could say I've really been using it for 6 years but if you count since the first time I've tried it then it would be 8 or 9 years. Take your pick.
Initially I started using it again because it was graphically different. There's hundreds of Window managers and you simply don't have that kind of power for free with Windows. Price isn't an issue because sometimes I buy distros or donate to projects.
The sheer power it provides. With the terminal you can do things in seconds that can usually take hours in Windows.
I enjoy a community of sharing knowledge. I actively participate in more than 10 open source projects.
I love Windows. It is the most user friendly to date and you also can build custom hardware on top of it. I use it for playing all of my PC games (heavy PC gamer). Mac is okay but I'm not willing to pay quadruple the price in hardware specs that I could get from building my own machine. Really I enjoy any operating system because of the the fundamentals it took to create them and variety.
Currently I use Kubuntu as a Desktop and Fedora on a couple of machines. I run Amahi as a centralized home media center which currently requires Fedora 14. I use Kubuntu because I've always been a KDE fan. If I couldn't use KDE then I would choose no GUI or something lightweight like openbox.
I've tried dozens of distributions. The one that brought me back to Linux in 2005 was Mepis. I stopped using Mepis because the community was an asshole (the mods, core devs, and owner; not necessarily the user community). They do run a good distro though. That's both a strength and weakness of Linux. On one end you can choose another community if you disagree with the current one. On the other end there's so many communities that it's the first operating system to have OS wars with itself. This is why I settle so nicely in the LinuxQuestions community. It's not distro specific and you can discuss cool problems and get help without much resistance if you need it.
Kubuntu is my workstation. Drexel is a RedHat shop when Linux is concerned so we use RedHat 5.x and 6.x. It is a mixed OS environment.