[ThoughtVelocity]

I have gone the linux route first as a result of boredom with windows. Lately however, I am becoming more drawn to linux because of Microsoft's bloat and the direction Windows is taking. The whole "trusted computing" thing is pure evil. The only thing that keeps me however in Micosoft's clutches is Linux's lack of a professional CAD program and music production ala Cubase. Although Ardour and Wired look very promising in the music realm.

[Xenon]

I like using linux as often I start getting rather miffed with XP, as when it has been going for quite a while and lots of things installed, it starts forgetting my view settings in my folders and occasionally moves all my desktop icons over to one side. Then there is the crashing occasionally and not allowing me into certain areas of my hard drive of saying "Are you sure?" to every action I do.

In summary, the main reason I use linux is because it does what I want it to do without questioning my motives, plus I always feel more secure. The main reason I am still using M$ Windows is games and the fact it is currently acting as my "Internet Connection Sharing" gateway and I am still requiring some components to build an old system to become a decent firewall and gateway linux box. At which point I shall try and make the full move to linux with my main PC.

[hilowe]

Originally Posted by ThoughtVelocity

The only thing that keeps me however in Micosoft's clutches is Linux's lack of a professional CAD program and music production ala Cubase.

You might want to have a look at this page:

http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-l...en/table.shtml

I didn't think there were any CAD programs for Linux either, until I saw that page. I haven't had a chance to install any to try them out.

Back to the thread topic, I installed Linux because I was curious. Started with Windows back in the DOS 6.0/Windows 3.11 days. Went to college, got a new Windows computer. Started hearing about Linux after a couple of years at college.

Finally had some time and money, and built a computer to dual boot Windows and Linux. I'm enjoying it, but still on that learning curve.

[a thing]

Curiosity gave the cat tuna

I'm just a student btw.

[xzworks]

im an IT student..the web administrator of my practicum recommended me to try linux and study it . he give me whitebox linux 3.0 respin 1...i also try fedora core 3 which my friend lend me. im saving now to buy suse 9.3 ..

[ibowtotux]

I'm a CE student at tamu. Been using linux since I was a sophomore in high school because I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I wasn't disappointed....

[eatinglemur]

I started using linux in 2001, I think (not too long ago). I was in high school and spent a lot of my spare time programming for Windows and DOS, and I really enjoyed poking around with the system...configuring, reconfiguring, and other fun OS tinkering activities. My software engineer uncle saw my interest and recommended I learn how to use linux (or any form of unix--he's also responsible for my learning C). That year he bought me a few linux books (Running Linux, Linux in a Nutshell), and I went out and bought a copy of Red Hat 6.0 from the local office supply store (got it in exchange for a copy of Mandrake, which I regretted buying originally).

Nowadays I'm still using linux, though I'm not that sharp with it because I actually spent most of my time running FreeBSD. As a result, I'm a bit more familiar with managing the latter system. I'm using linux as my main operating system right now because of hardware compatibility issues as well as my own personal need to keep current (let's face it...linux specific skills are just a little bit more marketable than BSD specific skills. Both are valuable, of course).

The first thing that drew me in was that it was new and fascinating. What caused me to stay was the power and quality of the software; there are lot of things that you can do using a *nix system, many of which are either a) difficult or b) nearly impossible to do in Windows or comparable systems.

Regardless of how I may feel about which system is better or overall more useful from a purely objective standpoint (in my mind it's a closer call than most people are willing to admit), I more or less grew into the unix culture; I got used to doing things the *nix way and not the Windows way.

As a computer science student, I find that linux/gnu has more to offer me than Microsoft in the area of software development tools and such. Also, I would someday like to be a system administrator, and in that light my OS choice pretty much speaks for itself.

In the area of politics, I'm also a bit of an anticapitalist, and free open source software gives my inner socialist the warm fuzzies. I support FOSS because I believe in people working to benefit the community as a whole (and not just themselves) and sharing the fruits of their labor. In addition, it gives the people control over their own computer systems, which I think is important to our safety and privacy because in a world where our lives are increasingly dependent upon computing we run a high risk of being subjected to some form of exploitation from profit driven organization and/or the state. Basically speaking, free software == free society (to paraphrase Stallman).

[compmodder26]

I got tired of all the security exploits found in MS products. So I switched to Linux. That's not to say that Linux is completely secure and free of exploits. But they are far fewer and they are patched quicker than Windows exploits. I am a Webmaster.

[jamey112]

Multiple reasons:
1. IT Major in college, linux is a must
2. Micrsoft sucks
3. I like the command line, even though I'm not up to date on the linux command line yet
4. Microsoft sucks
5. Wanted something new
6. Microsoft sucks

[Cabs61]

Originally Posted by ThoughtVelocity

I have gone the linux route first as a result of boredom with windows. Lately however, I am becoming more drawn to linux because of Microsoft's bloat and the direction Windows is taking. The whole "trusted computing" thing is pure evil. The only thing that keeps me however in Micosoft's clutches is Linux's lack of a professional CAD program and music production ala Cubase. Although Ardour and Wired look very promising in the music realm.

I agree... Until Autodork ports it's programs to linux, I'm stuck with XP on a separate hard drive.
There is one thing I have not seen mentioned as a reason to use linux...In M$, ALL and I mean ALL the programs seem to want to call 'home' every time you connect to the net.

The main reason I use linux is that I want to know what is on my machine. I paid for it, and I want control of it!