Unix doesn't count. How can it? It's not Linux. Any more than asking when you first used Windows, your MS-DOS days would count.

Worth mentioning though (I did) because for early Linux adopters, Unix experience and background was generally a key motivator to try it out ...

In '95 we used Debian on a desktop PC as a mail and web server for our alumni at the time. We used Linux because yep, we had Unix experience, and heck email, usenet and the early web were all built on and for and driven mostly Unix platforms and while Windows existed (Windows 95 anyone? IIS had just been released in'95 for Windows NT, but Windows Server editions didn't appear until 2003 and Windows to this day hamstrings servers with integral graphic desktop environments securing Linux's destiny as the server platform of choice globally) Linux was free, familiar (to Unix folk) and light on resources (no graphic desktop required).

I found Linux Mint and ran it for a couple of months before the end of Windows 7 Support happened, since then I have been Windows free. I have installed Ubuntu Studio since then and have had Solus OS on the system also

In 2020 at a young age of 76! Believe me, I am enjoying. Stopped using Windows which I started possibly in 1989.

As I remember it was right after Windows XP came out and the Microsoft EULA became, IMO, very restrictive. That was late 2001, and I began my Linux education with Slackware, Debian, Mandrake (later becoming Mandriva) and Red Hat. I had purchased Linux for Dummies and it included a Red Hat CD, so naturally........

1993. With one of the first RedHat install CDs, and had to set it up for dual boot manually because at that time I only had one PC. Was a pain to configure it for dual boot, and lets not talk about the problems with configuring graphics back then. Have never regretted trying it and moving forward 28 years it doesn't really seem that long.

My dad started installing Linux on our family computers somewhere around 2010 or 2011. I've used it ever since.

This questions begs the obvious follow up of why? So 2019 was my 1st effort. I had a laptop with W7 which refused to install W10 so I researched alternatives and installed Linux Zorin just to try it out (did it myself too!). It worked fine when my old temperamental laptop decided it would connect to the internet .... . I eventually got sick of it and gave it to the rescyclers. However my main computer is a destop and I had a Chromebox which was fine until the google chrome support expired earlier this year. Downloading a Linux distro on to the Chromebox was not recommended by those who know about these things so in July 2021 I purchased a refurbished NUC mini-computer (I like the small form-factor pc) and had the supplier techo load Ububtu as well as the Google chrome aps - browser, drive, email for a seamless changeover. It is my understanding that the Linux distros do not have an end date for support so no designed obsolescence!(?)

I'm just an end-user, with minimal interest in poking around under the bonnet (like my car!). I just want an op system that operates smoothly, rain, hail or shine and does what I want. However, there are some intergration issues when transferring downloaded files from Ubuntu to Chrome which I haven't got to the bottom of yet.

I do have a major dislike/distrust of the huge global mega corps like Microsoft, Google, Apple and Amazon etc so its likely that I will migrate all of my apps to the Ubuntu stable in the not too distant future (so long as there are cloud storage options).
.
Cheers Pete

My foray into Linux Mint began with my deepening frustration with MicroSoft Windows, and its costly (to the customer) "planned obsolescence" business model. You had to buy MS Windows; you had to buy MS Office; you had to buy MS Internet Explorer. Heck, you had to buy EVERYTHING! And you had to buy it over and over again, as each new version was released!

When I began my search for a new operating system, I stumbled upon Linux Mint 17, which was released on May 31, 2014. I ordered a CD, ran the demo and couldn't believe my eyes! I not only got a fantastic operating system, I got a fantastic office suite of software, a fantastic web browser - and gobs of other stuff - all for the mere cost of a cup of good coffee!

Good riddance, MicroSoft! Welcome home, Linux!

I think there are many people like me who in the past have tried Linux several times, but as a developer I was stuck with Windows software (because that's all there was). As time went on, more development software became available on Linux and at the same time Windows (update) just went round and round and round (and then you almost fell asleep).

In 2014 a day dawned and it was time to throw out the baby with the bath water. No dual boot, no Windows backup (just in case), no baby. Jump in the deep end.

Never looked back!

PS I have now converted my wife and many others to Linux. They would never look back either.

Windows 11? After I have lost part of my life looking at 'An error has occurred' or the BSOD? And now my i5 based computers may not work under Windows 11? Never again!

Mine would have been an earlyish Slackware distro downloaded into numerous floppy disks in the mid to late '90s
I was also playing with various BSD systems as well and was already maintaining HP-UX, Solaris and DEC Ultrix systems at work.

At present I'm using a bunch of raspberry pi to run a VAXcluster using simh (plus I have my own real VAXstation 4000 VLC as part of that cluster)

My first experience was with Knoppix. The company's IT consultant suggested that I try it out. But my first serious attempt was with Ubuntu Hardy. I had just bought a Dell laptop with Vista and it wasn't working very well. So I switched to the dark side.

I've tried many distros, but I'm more comfortable with Debian. And as I'm getting lazier every day, I now use MXLinux both at work and for fun.

At the time (1998) I got a cd with my favorite pc-magazine. It had "Kheops" on it (I think it was a French distro, based on Slackware). So I shoved it into my Windows 95 Pentium. I cannot quite remember if it worked or how it worked. I just couldn't make heads nor tails from it as I was a noob windows user (I am 56 years old so computer classes weren't really an option when I went to school!). A couple of years later, around 2000, I was working in Education, I had gotten real good with Windows and networking, and a friend of mine was very enthusiastic about "alternative systems". So I purchased a hefty book that had three install CDs with three systems: debian, caldera and red hat. I struggled quite a bit with it to get them installed in dual boot with Win98. Then that friend introduced me to Suse (6.3) and that did the trick.

Although I became a linux fan, real world work stuff kept me with Windows. Until last year with the corona pandemic. I had time and decided to try Linux distros to find out where we were standing now, 20 years on. And I was amazed. Those linux distro's have become so good! That being said, after a year of experimenting I am now settled with Debian (10 on my main Dell Optiplex machine, 11 for tryout on the Asus laptop), there is a Dell Vostro acting as shared file server and print server on Ubuntu, and a Lenovo laptop with Ubuntu. recently, I tried PCLinuxOS on another old HP laptop.

For the first time in 25 years, I am completely...Windows-free!

I started with Red Hat 4.2 in 1997, bought a manual which came with the CD. After 6.0, I switched to Slackware 7.1

Started in 2013 with Mint 15 Olivia. Now using PCLinuxOS (semi-rolling and no systemd).

I think smartphones happened next, plus, an astonishing amount of people all of a sudden took up Apple Mac. I never quite understood that, they are expensive as hell, so a lot of people started earning a lot of money in the early nillies.

On the other hand, the question is "when did you start" and so a lot of us did in between 1998 and 2001. They are of course mostly still there although they do not "start", so accumulatively there is still a gain. And like someone said..."does Android count?"... In that case the curve would look very different.