When people ask why you use Linux over Windows,Mac,and Chrome OS what do you tell them?

NORD

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I tell them for me It's the privacy,security, the greatness of having free software and kicking big brother in the nuts.
The fact that I can have a live USB Linux on any AMD or Intel computer.
Firefox browser and DuckDuckgo search engine they are built to protect your PC.
Freedom to modify anything you want open source. then I pop up terminal and show them the sudo apt update lol!
 


I like my privacy and pissing off the big guys. I like the fact that there are those who think you use Linux you are hacking something. I like to know what I am installing and knowing I can change it the way I want. You set Win up and it changes randomly back.
 
Yeah, I was like windows asks what kind of ads you want to see and I was like uh no ads?
Only personal information Linux gets is what you give it not what it tracks and sends out .
 
Sounds like a fanboy thread, Tobey ... but hey, I'm always up for a good fanboy read ;)

I don't get asked the question a lot, but if I were, I'd probably tell them that I run 70 Linux on this Dell rig, and have heaps of room for more (only if I upgrade the RAM to 32 GB or 64 GB).

Not a lot of point in running more than one Windows, or alternatives.

If they expressed disbelief that I was running 70 "OSes" I might show them one of my customised Grub Menus such as this

AklXJva.jpg


and then scroll through the 3 - 4 pages of menu.

But then I'm a showoff.

Cheers and it's Friday in Oz so

Avagudweegend

Wiz
 
it's fast, safe, easy to use, and doesn't break every five minutes [unless i break it myself]
 
I begun more like “it’s the best tool for my job” but lately I’m also adding privacy reasons that make the free and open source software the best door for accessing unbiased, free information (free as in freedom).
 
  1. Linux has different distros with different interface for different tastes
  2. You don't have any privacy issue on Linux compared to windows
  3. You have much less security issues when you choose Linux over windows
  4. You don't have to install Antivirus or other security related software on Linux that lower the speed of your computer
  5. You don't receive nonsense, big updates like windows 10 or 11
  6. You can run a fast, secure Linux on any type of hardware even old ones. But if you want to install a lightweight windows on an old computer, you should choose windows 98 which is as secure as a broken window!
  7. Most Linux distros are free and you don't pay big companies to become bigger and help them to decide for you when they became so huge (like Microsoft)
  8. The speed of Linux doesn't decrease over the time but windows definitely has this issue
  9. You don't need to wait years for really new version of OS with new features in Linux, but since windows 7,there wasn't really much new features in windows
  10. There's not ridiculous problems like blue screen of death in Linux!
 
I've already answered quite a few of these but I'm going to use a different answer for this one. I use Linux because I have been using it for the last 9 years as my only OS and I'm used to it no other reason anymore, all the other stuff that people give as reason are just things that you get with using Linux but not my reason anymore.
 
Good answers so far. I use Linux and have been since 1995 or so because it gives me choices I don't get with other systems.
Simple as that! Also if the choice I want is not there I'm free to do it my way :)
 
I’ve been using Linux for so long, I can’t see myself using anything else!

Linux gives me the freedom to completely take charge of my personal computing experience, from start to finish. I can customise any aspect of my system and make it look, feel and function the way I want it to. Not the way that a committee of boffins and faceless suits at a big tech company has decided it should work.

Ultimately, my computer works for me!
Linux has great security, privacy, flexibility, customisability, scalability. And most of all - freedom!

Linux might not be perfect, there may be strange quirks to work around, or put up with from time to time. But it’s worth putting up with those minor quirks, for the sake of the many benefits it offers.

Also, it’s great fun! I really enjoy tinkering with my system.
 
I love using Linux because I can customize it fairly easy, it makes my workflows a lot more efficient, there's a much lower risk of getting viruses, less tracking, no bloat, and I feel like in Linux, you can pretty much make anything happen if you're technical enough and put some effort...
 
Not only is the OS more stable, and less virus prone... it's free!! ( Unless you want commercial support )
Not only is the OS free, just about all of the apps are free. Imagine the cost of Windows, Office, Photoshop,
VisualStudio, and NortonAV... I get all of that free. Now imagine having to update all those license every 3 or 4
years because of incompatibilies. Yes, I have to update Linux also, put I don't keep paying for it.

I like the flexibility, don't like KDE? Fine use MATE, don't like MATE, fine use Gnome or Xfce, or a dozen others.
Don't like Ubuntu? Fine use Fedora, don't like Fedora, fine use OpenSuSE, don't like openSuse, use Mint...

Grub lets me roll back to the previous version with a simple reboot and menu choice, try doing that in Windows.
Yes, there are Windows snapshots, but are they this easy?

I like being in control of my computer, no back-end processes, and forced updates, no spam software pre-installed.
I don't have to reboot every time I get updated. I don't have to mess with Active Directory.
 
As I'm sitting here, the other thing that dawns on me.
I recently bought a iPad Pro. I like it OK. It's the first Apple product I've bought in nearly 20 years.
I bought it because I'm a musician and I like a portable easy tablet to store our songs on. This waywe can share music between each other easily.

... But.. ( there is always a but )

There is no storage expansion, I can't a SD card or even a micro SD card. I can't add RAM, I have to buy a different
(more expensive) model. Quite often (depending on the application) I can't even copy or download my files to any
local storage.

Apple, Google and Micro$oft are forcing us to put more and more of our personal data, pictures, songs, documents,
devlopment work, and personal creativity into the cloud. I don't want all my stuff in the cloud!! I like fine on my local PC.
I have back-ups. I have flash drives, USB thumb drives. External SATA and USB ssd drives. I have mutiple computers
that I can back up to. People say the cloud is convenient for files between devices. So are thumb drives, and they
work even if the internet is down.

I don't put all my stuff in the cloud, never have. Never will. (I do have some work stuff in OneDrive and Google Drive)
but my personal stuff is mine!!

Did I mention I hate the cloud? Linux lets me put any of my files, anywhere I want to.
 
Firstly i tell them im a geek! lol
Then i will say i like to tinker around with different operating systems and desktops, i like the vast variety of different free open source software. Linux has a great community where on the whole everybody is willing to help everybody out.
I tell them linux is an awesome way to learn about how computer systems work in general , if you tinker with linux you start learning the nuts and bolts that make up an operating system. Its fun to customize your own system and to say its yours.

I am also married to a iphone and an ipad, but most certainly my MISTRESS is Linux! haha
 
Not only is the OS more stable, and less virus prone... it's free!! ( Unless you want commercial support )
Not only is the OS free, just about all of the apps are free. Imagine the cost of Windows, Office, Photoshop,
VisualStudio, and NortonAV... I get all of that free. Now imagine having to update all those license every 3 or 4
years because of incompatibilies. Yes, I have to update Linux also, put I don't keep paying for it.

I like the flexibility, don't like KDE? Fine use MATE, don't like MATE, fine use Gnome or Xfce, or a dozen others.
Don't like Ubuntu? Fine use Fedora, don't like Fedora, fine use OpenSuSE, don't like openSuse, use Mint...

Grub lets me roll back to the previous version with a simple reboot and menu choice, try doing that in Windows.
Yes, there are Windows snapshots, but are they this easy?

I like being in control of my computer, no back-end processes, and forced updates, no spam software pre-installed.
I don't have to reboot every time I get updated. I don't have to mess with Active Directory.
There are a lot of people that think that cause you pay for windows it's easier to use but one example I have is I was updating/installing drivers on an Emachines pc I on accident choose a different driver before I applied it and that caused the drivers to stop working cause the dpkg or something needed to be reset so boot to grub and bam an option to have it fix itself. My point is that while some people think *Linux is a bad os to start on cause you might need to use the terminal or something. But on an os like Linux mint, it is more user-friendly than windows in most cases.

So what I say is (most people I talk to are gamers) so you spent $100 on windows when you could download Linux and play most games (Some multiplayer games don't work ) and get 1-2 triple a titles or you could spend $100 on windows to have an os that makes money off of your **data.

* I know it's GNU/Linux
**During setup they have an option that by default puts your data on the cloud
 
... but hey, I'm always up for a good fanboy read

Well, I wasn't wrong there... reading this over my morning coffees.

I like Matt's 10-pointer at #9, might steal that for running past newbies. ;)

And offerings from @JasKinasis and @dos2unix are always worth reading.

If the interest, and the quality and diversity of the input continues, I might pin this, Tobey - it could make for a good read for those new to the site (and even for us oldsters) :)

Chris
 
Lots to choose from. If I want a different Windows, I can "upgrade" to 11 or install 95, 98, ME, Vista, 7, 8, 8.2......but of course no update, half the stuff won't work. I do have older Hardware some New in the Box Motherboards for Pentium III and the memory for said boards, the molex connectors. I can install some old software but really it would be a retro gaming thing which I am not really into.
 

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