Why do you use linux?

[Geeth]

Hey

Just wonder what peoples different reasons are for using linux weather it's for a complete replacement to windows or mac, or just something to play with from time to time.

Mine is simply that I wanted something different and challenging to learn. And hey why not something that I haven't used before.
Also to learn more about the way an OS works.

[Debian Linux Geek]

Its a complete replacement for me and I use it becasue I am free to use my computer how I want to. Not how Steve wants me to.

[smolloy]

I use linux, not because of some grand, stallman-esque, philosophical principal, but because I genuinely believe it's the best choice out there.

It gives me complete control over my computer, and makes me the ultimate power when it comes to dictating how my computer runs -- not the marketing department of a multi-billion dollar company. Also, although my system is not 100% FOSS, it is comforting to know that the most security-dependent parts are -- e.g. sshd, apache, firefox. Thus, I have few security worries.

It's kinda amazing that my number one choice of OS (Ubuntu) is entirely free (as in beer), and my last choice of OS (Vista) runs to hundreds of dollars!

[valan]

Its a complete replacement for me and I use it becasue I am free to use my computer how I want to. Not how Steve wants me to.

My thoughts exactly. Except one additional thing: I can do *anything* with it.

[hugortega]

Simple: It's fun!...

(and of course I love to learn, new challenges, feel that I have the control of my hardware and software, it's a good philosophical point of view as far as I concern, I'm a developer and I love to coding, I love penguins, I think that it's my best choice, I get money from open source software, I like to donate to other projects, ... , and a big etc)

[MikeTbob]

I use linux, not because of some grand, stallman-esque, philosophical principal, but because I genuinely believe it's the best choice out there.

It gives me complete control over my computer, and makes me the ultimate power when it comes to dictating how my computer runs -- not the marketing department of a multi-billion dollar company.

My thoughts couldn't have been spoken any better. I'd like to add also, that it's free and it has become a MS Replacement on my machine.

[elija]

There are various reasons.

It is (mostly) more stable than a certain OS
It is definately faster on any given hardware
It is free as in speech and as in beer
It gives me back control of what I do on my computer

and most importantly

I like it and it's fun.

[AutisticCuckoo]

I finally got round to replacing Windows XP with Linux 3 years ago. I was sick and tired of the constant security problems with Windows, and being restricted to dial-up access meant updating antivirus software was painfully slow.

I've been working in *nix environments since the early '90s and liking it a lot. The powerful scripting abilities and the relative simplicity of the whole operating system appeal to me.

As soon as I found a driver for my modem I made the switch, and I haven't looked back since. I'm still using that old RH9 distro, but at least I've now managed to get wireless broadband.

Nowadays I mainly do web-related things, and what's better than a LAMP setup for that? Apache/MySQL/PHP handle the background stuff, while vim and GIMP take care of the rest.

I wrote my first book using OpenOffice and am now well on the way with my second.

I still have to suffer Windows at the office, but that's only 8 hours a day.

[bigtomrodney]

It's certainly not something to just play with, though it is fun too. I've use Linux full time on all of my hardware for several years now and I haven't looked back.

Nor do I spend my time getting things to work...it all just does these days.

[kveldulf980]

Eesh I've been using it as a complete replacement for about ten years now so I guess for me it's because I have always found it to be the best solution for me. It lets me do what I want to do, and do it free (in both senses of the word).