Why Linux?

[Paul Orton]

Sorry for the boring question but a few years ago I was nearly seduced by Linux but was put off by its apparent difficulty and no clear cut reasons why I should abandon Windows. I've decided to look at it again so would appreciate some good reasons why I should take the plunge (initially running it alongside Windows, maybe permanently if I find I'm scared of dumping Windows completely - or have lots of people migrated totally to Linux?).

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

The fact is, there might not be a good reason for you to use Linux.

Whether or not you should use Linux is entirely up to you, and it's wrong in my opinion to expect others to convince you that you should use it. If I've read your post above correctly, you did it right the first time. You tried it, and then decided it was not for you.

I'd suggest you try it again, and if it works well for you, then use it. Otherwise, you simply stick with whatever does work for you.

Good luck with it should you try Linux again!

[Dapper Dan]

Read the link in my signature. It will clear up a lot of questions for you. I cannot tell you why you should use Linux, but can tell you why I do!

1. I am in complete control of my operating system, not Microsoft.
2. I finally get Redmond's hands out of my wallet once and for all.
3. I don't get Trojans, browser hijackers, worms, or viruses.
4. I never have to de-frag my hard drive.
5. No annoying pop ups for every conceivable application with no easy way to rid myself of them.
6. Not having to subscribe to Norton and McAffee.
7. Linux hardly ever crashes. If an app crashes, I just xkill it and start over, no rebooting just for a stuck or frozen app.
8. Linux is just plain fun! I love running it and figuring out things and learning and helping others with Linux.
9. I have my choice of an endless array of applications, programs, window managers and desktop environments and can make Linux exactly what I want it to be.
10.I don't have to have Internet Explorer just to see jpegs...
11. The rebel in me enjoys being among the few but proud fraternity of Linux users.

[jmadero]

I like this question, wide open for debate so I'll throw my two cents in:

1. I think one of the coolest things about joining the linux wave is that you are supporting an open source community - that means that it's just people doing stuff for the love of doing it, not for money, not for anything other than pure joy, it's something worth supporting.

2. The new distros are amazing in so many ways:
--The amount of open source software is getting huge
--The ease of use (for some of the popular distros) is much easier than Windows, installing a program is as simple as going through a precompiled list of programs and hitting "install", no searching for 90% of programs that you'll need
--As mentioned before crashes are virtually none
--The software coming out spans wide ranges and is typically very stable, these range from the incredible OO (openoffice) to financial programs such as kmymoney, media players, etc....
--the ability to alter your GUI in many distros makes the look factor truly spectacular, here is a link to one of the cooler easy programs to install that uses virtually no memory and makes things amazing:
YouTube - Beryl

3. Efficiency--Windows is one of the least efficient OS's ever build, as it puts out newer versions it becomes less and less efficient--any OS that recommends 2 GIGS of RAM is insane, to get a cooler look and functionality in linux you'll typically never go above 512

4. Fun -- the learning experience of linux (although it's becoming less and less steep as it becomes easier and easier), really is fun for some people (including myself)

5. You have us to help This forum as well as others shows the dedication and support that you get with linux, going with windows, you'll be lucky to get a 5 minute phone call for less than $50

Hope you at least try a dual boot and check things out. I am running Ubuntu Gutsy and love it. I agree that in the past things were a bit more difficult (although I wouldn't say it wasn't worth it) but since the new distros such as Gutsy have come out, it's well worth trying it out.

Good luck


jmadero

[anomie]

Something compelled you to get this far -- i.e. doing some cursory research and asking about it on a forum. So, take the next step: try out a live cd and decide for yourself.

[Paul Orton]

Thanks for the replies so far - inspiring stuff!

I have already dumped IE and Outlook (for Thunderbird and Firefox) and really would like to leave Windows behind, too. I have just installed Open Office and can see that it doesn't cut me off from all my colleagues who will no doubt stay with Word for ever! I hope it's just as compatible with Excel and Access, too, because I use these a lot (and my colleagues, of course!).

It's going to mean losing some programs I've grown very fond of, too - unless they do Linux versions (how common is that?).

[Kieren]

Some good points Dapper Dan but I think some of them aren't totally correct

6. Not having to subscribe to Norton and McAffee.
7. Linux hardly ever crashes. If an app crashes, I just xkill it and start over, no rebooting just for a stuck or frozen app.
10.I don't have to have Internet Explorer just to see jpegs...

6. There is an antivirus product from AVG that is available for free for home users
7. Don't forget Windows has the old Ctrl+Alt+Del
10. While it's not easy to uninstall IE you don't need it to view images. There are lovely applications like IrfanView for that

[bigtomrodney]

7. Don't forget Windows has the old Ctrl+Alt+Del

Make that Ctrl+Shift+Esc if you mean Task Manager. Ctrl+Alt+Del is only a shortcut to task manager in Windows machines that are not on a domain. When on a Domain you get a list of options including lock screen. Ctrl+Shift+Esc is the actual shortcut to Task Manager

[Kieren]

Well you learn something new about Windows everyday, on a Linux Forum :S

[techieMoe]

6. There is an antivirus product from AVG that is available for free for home users

I think the operative words in Dapper Dan's post were "not having to pay for antivirus like McAffee and Norton. Just because antivirus programs are available for Linux doesn't mean they're *necessary*. In a Microsoft Windows environment you simply *must* use antivirus. There's no way around it. In Linux, at this point in time anyway, it's optional.