Why Linux ! !

abrenar

after a few months of exploring and learning Linux, i always asking my self Why Linux? i started using Linux when i was on my last years in college i am a part-time Computer technician which is usually repairing Desktop computers running Windows xp, Some will call me through my cellphone and asking for a schedule for Computer analysis, when i am finish analysing their computer problems i will end-up formatting their pc's because of BulK viruses in penetrating their box, it is a good part-time job because customer is always their " Windows Pc always want repair's. that is the time i realize why windows partners with virus, i search the internet and land to linux ubuntu i try to use it and test if its true that linux does not infected with viruses. since the first time i use linux ubuntu until now i never experience a virus thats why when someone is calling me for a Computer repair i always suggesting to my client to leave Windows and embrace Linux. few clients are switch but some remain in windows and always calling me ^_^. And now what i am a Unix System Administrator that only starts for virus fixing using different OS LINUX.

So what is your story ? Why LINUX?:)

vtel57

Hello Arben!

Why Linux? That's a good question. For me, it's a long story. Rather than repost it here, though, read my blog: http://www.linux.com/community/blogs/The-First...-Hopefully-Not-the-Last.html

Regards,

~Eric

abrenar

hahaha nice story you got. i also want to try slackware because i am interested in hacking not cracking. and testing of the vulnerabilities of my box or my servers.

vtel57

Slackware is GOOD! It's the only GNU/Linux distribution with ATTITUDE, my Filipino friend. You'll like it. Give it a try.

mugzilla

It works.

No phantom random "ERROR!!!" boxes pop up.

Efficient OS. I do not like giving Micro$oft all of my ram and shiny processor to run their damn OS. Those are MY resources, damnit!!!

If I DO have a problem, a quick google search, or post in a forum gets me the answer, and the problem goes away.

No need to reinstall the OS every 6 mos since it ends up running slower and slower.

abrenar

you are absolutely right, every 6 months reinstall of os, back up of data, and recovering it after the installation, when i am using windows maybe last year, i always need to reinstall it not for 6 months but maybe maximum of 3 months, because of viruses and trojans. but in linux its very safe and I love Compiz Cube ^__^ .

abrenar

by the way mugzilla i love that tiny color green in the center of the plastic its look yummy ^_^.

Xipher_Zero

For me it's pretty simple. Back in 2004 M$ hit me with a false positive on my activation of XP (When the WGA was being rolled out). After fighting with microsoft for 3 days to try to get my computer re-enabled I started looking for alternatives. I stumbled across Linux in the form of Mandrake and installed it on a separate drive. M$ ultimately got my activation fixed, but it was too late. I was enamoured with this new thing called Linux and booted less and less into XP. After 'bout 6 months I asked myself why I even had Windows installed ..... and the rest is history. I've been 98% Linux ever since. I still keep a current load of windows on a 20gb partition to stay current with my tech knowledge, but it really only gets booted maybe once every 3 months.

abrenar

ahhaha poor windows because they have a lot of shares in market they entertain them too slow, thats why some of their clients like you are looking for some alternatives, tnx Linux you are there ^__^

abrenar

dont say you dont have money you can buy pirated cd's out there or download windows xp in torrentz. but for me even i have money to buy genuine software! i will not buy one, there is always counterpart software in linux why should i buy !!

kggy

well my story is actually hilarious. just one year ago i wanted to try out how wirtual machines work and how can i experiment with different wirtual systems. eventually i tried ubuntu as well. after a while i realized that i was spending more time on my virtual machine using Ubuntu than i was on my xp. then i realized i wanted a clean ubuntu machine. since then i am a happy linux user. i tried different distros, but always went back to ubuntu and now i am a big fan and rarely use windows machines.

TheAncientGoat

My XP box got hacked, got infected to oblivion with all kinds of malware, and was pretty much zombified beyond all recognition. No Antivirus could fix it, so I finally made the linux jump and was very happy with what I got.

ajun

Because i like Linux, So Linux!

kaioshade

Linux for me has always been a mild curiosity. I have always enjoyed the freedom and the amount of things you can do to your software installation. It appeals to my tinkerer nature and keeps me learning new and interesting things. I still have a long way to go before i am considered "good" with Linux, but the journey so far has been amazing, if not sometimes frustrating.

Gossamer

About two years agoI kept wondering what the buzz was all about so I tried Ubuntu; I liked it well enough but my video drivers were always a problem(still are). I quit for a while and enjoyed Windows for about a year afterwards.

Well a good few months back; I took it upon myself to install Debian; I loved it. I don't know if it was my previous knowledge that helped me through but I still love it. I'm doing so much more than what I did do with Ubuntu.

When I was running Ubuntu, I had no idea what really could be done with Linux. It really is a full-fledged OS with all the glam and glory. I really underestimated it and if it was an actual person on the street; I think I'd walk up and apologize for not realizing how terribly awesome it is.

Thanks Linux!

abrenar

Good for you Gossamer, i wish all people are brave enough to try different things, and also discover what is behind this wonderful OS.

jnvilo

Until 1995, I was using Amiga, then at the end 1996 three things happened,

1) I went to University of Malta and had an account on the unix lab which ran SunOS4
2) I bought a pc Pentim 100 16 megs ram and it came with windows 95
3) I stumbled on a book with Slackware

Suffice to say, I wanted to have a unix at home and so windows95 went out the window, and slackware came in, which then turned to redhat 5.3 when then went to debian and the rest is history.

atreyu

Around '97, I wanted learn something new, so i downloaded a load of Red Hat floppies. at the time, i could not guess that my professional career would become centered around what I would learn in the next few years. i still use Windows when I have to (work) or need to (games), but, otherwise, there is no question. whenever i get the chance, i install Linux on friends/families computers, too.

itbcn8

Believe it or not, in the summer of '04 I was strolling through a park in Southern California when a shiny object in the grass caught my eye. It was a plastic zip-lock bag with 3 "blank" CDs in it! I looked around and couldn't find the owner so I decided to take them home.

... In retrospect, loading up a random CD I found in a park was probably not the safest or smartest thing to do in the world... but curiosity got the best me and I don't regret it, because I found Linux! :woohoo:

One of them was an Ubuntu Live CD! At the time I knew nothing about Linux so I thought I had stumbled across some secret government OS or Sillicon Valley's newest big thing! I was so excited and amazed at how great it ran! I probably played around with it for 2 days before I finally read about Ubuntu and realized that I wasn't the first person to discover this :unsure: which was kind of dissapointing :P

Since then I have dabbled with most major distro's but keep going back to Ubuntu for its popularity, support, etc.

:side:

Superplay

I summarize my reply at the question "Why Linux!!"...

Gnu/Linux is a Operating System that it doesn't have limit, is appropiate and it doesn't bore.

Windows, version XP, Vista, ... always do some things... some errors (althought imcrease this), some problems... is boring!

Is a huge truth that my opinion about GNU/Linux is different each day, but it isn't bad... it is very well!

Well... every user have different mind of this OS because is a complete system... the Windows user just know say... "We have all games and programs of the market" or "Windows is easy, is simple". But GNU/Linux is easy and it have games, too! Perhaps... the huge company owe to see the Linux user and this lean GNU/Linux more frequently.

Well... this is my opinion for today... tomorrow... I don't know.

Good nights team!

PD: I sorry my bad English hehehe but I'm Spanish bye!

sockets

Why Linux? I remember seeing the name somewhere in a magazine when I was young; I didn't really make much of it. About a year ago I heard the name again, and decided that it would be interesting to try. I installed Ubuntu, not really knowing or thinking about FOSS, it was just "a new thing(TM) ". I didn't get too far, as I couldn't get it connected to the internet, my wireless card wasn't supported. Later that year I tried again with another card, which worked.

I don't think I've looked back since! I've also come to embrace FOSS software (this is always my first question), and I now advocate opening up almost everything. Linux has changed my political views :P

masinick

Just looking at the subject title, one reaction would be, "Why not?" Another reaction would be, "Because it is a choice".

For me, those could be some reactions but there is much more to it than that. I am old enough that I had been in the software business as a professional a couple of years when the IBM PC was first introduced in 1981 to the consumer and business. People were using PCs before that, but they were definitely mostly serious hobbyists, small businesses and those who could not afford mainframe or even minicomputer systems.

In 1982 I switched assignments and joined a small advanced development research team at General Motors to investigate the possibility of getting the corporate software engineers on PCs that could upload their programs from PC to mainframe. We also put minicomputers in the mix to look at as departmental servers and multiuser systems for small teams. As such, I looked at MS/DOS, the mock ups of Windows that various people were trying to put together, and UNIX systems on minicomputers. The PC felt more "personal", but the minicomputer definitely had more power, infinitely better tools, and more imminent promise. I chose to pursue the mini route and UNIX, and took over an advanced development project to use the UNIX system as a communications hub to multiple sources using multiple protocols, and also to develop interfaces between the PC and the mini to form an early three tier network.

When Linux came out, I did not pursue it right away, but when I started hearing about how it used GNU software for utilities, I already knew most of them - and was using them on UNIX workstations. I wondered if Linux could have the "feel" and "friendliness" of the PC and the flexibility of the mini and UNIX. I found at first the answer was, "well, it's not quite there, but it is close enough that I can taste it". That was my reaction in 1995 and the distro was Slackware. It interested me enough to purchase my first home PC, though I'd used these systems for years at work.

It grabbed me right away. It took several more years to ramp up my usage because I did not yet have broadband at home. Once I got broadband in 1999, that was phase two. I entered graduate school and wrote most of my papers on the future of Linux and why I felt it could be a great success.

Once done with school in 2001 I started using Linux every day and have ever since. I have about a dozen Linux distros actually installed on my home systems at any given time, and hundreds of CDs and DVDs dating back to the nineties from the systems I have either tested or used over the years.

I use it because it brings convergence of styles for me - enough usability to suit me without having to sacrifice flexibility; I take flexibility over simplicity, but I appreciate a reasonable measure of each, and for me, I've now had it for years. I do consider myself an experienced user; not everyone will have the experience or interest that I do, so I never try to tell others they must use Linux, but I do tell them how useful it has been to me and how many alternatives I can choose from - if alternatives scare them, then I know it is not for them, but if they like alternatives, I try to help them out. That is one of the reasons that I am here - to discuss distributions, try to assist the informal "help network" and provide my historical insights and background.

kreggz

I installed Linux to force myself to know how to use it. Now i love it.

slasher_BY

At first - many years ago I seem film Matrix. And I think- very nice
terminal and green numbers on all monitor of my laptop.
Than my friends give me smale CD with Knoppix 3.0 .:laugh:
OOOO! Yeeee! Good system-I thinked. And after all this my first
command on terminal was .... ping 192.168.0. 23 - :woohoo:
adress PC of my friend on LAN. Its Best time!!! I begin to read
any info about Linux and write BackTrack4! :silly: Nice Live CD!
Soooo, Why Linux ?????????

abrenar

Isaac your Story sounds weird, but even it is weird you are destined to meet ubuntu. hehehehe.

tnx to the man who drop those live CD's, he is not bothered because linux is for free.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

itbcn8

abrenar wrote:

Isaac your Story sounds weird, but even it is weird you are destined to meet ubuntu. hehehehe.

tnx to the man who drop those live CD's, he is not bothered because linux is for free.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Weird, but true. :laugh:

darkixion

I used to be a total Windows guy and wouldn't use anything else. I actually thought it was all that was available at first, but then I tried Suse. I wasn't too keen on it, so continued using Windows, but then tried out Ubuntu a few years ago and slowly weened myself off Windows. I actually learned I could do a lot more on it without 3rd party apps.

I now only use Windows at work (I can use Linux, but I haven't found any decent SVN file-manager integration yet) and I know a lot more about how to use my computer, and diagnose problems than when I was using Windows. There's nothing to go back for as it does everything I need. I only have a few games, and most of them work under either Cedega or Crossover Games, and the old ones work perfectly in DOSBox. I got my parents and my sister using it, and that's all they know. They're not Windows users at all and they have no problems.

abrenar

dark_ixion::


does your parent and sister started to use the linux OS rather than windows? if yes that's great because some non-technical users are hard to decide converting linux.

:side:

darkixion

abrenar wrote:

does your parent and sister started to use the linux OS rather than windows? if yes that's great because some non-technical users are hard to decide converting linux.

:side:

Well, my parents did actually use Windows for a short period, but appeared more comfortable with Ubuntu. It also boots a lot quicker too, which is important since the laptop they've got is faulty, whereby if you put it into suspend the power fails because the battery holds no charge, so it has to be booted from scratch each time. My sister has only ever had Ubuntu, which runs very smoothly on the old hardware she has. I got her one of those Ubuntu vase speakers too.

abrenar

thats good they love it, my parents doenst try any OS at all so what i did is set up a nice pc in their house and put ubuntu and they also love it, but not technically, coz their are not technical people but atleast they do not know how to use windows at all, hehehe

darkixion

I think a good way to get people on to Linux is to get them to try out Firefox instead of IE, OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Works/Office, Thunderbird instead of Outlook and pidgin instead of MSN Messenger. Then there are no surprises when they make the switch.