I've been playing around with Linux for a little over a decade. I remember installing my first distro: OpenSUSE (I don't remember the version) on my trusty Dell Dimension 2400.
Holy crap, what a terrible experience!
I rendered the machine unbootable more times than I can count. In the process, I learned an incredible deal about how computers work: how to rescue them, what a partition table is, different file systems, the BIOS, compiling software...
COMPILING IS SO MUCH FUN FOR BEGINNERS.
Excuse my sarcasm. I remained vigilant and curious. I've been like this my whole life, beginning with tearing apart any interesting thing I could. I still do that... It's so much fun!
A few moments ago, I realized that I've been using my Linux Mint installation way more than Windows. It has been a sneaky transition over the past week.
Here are some of the reasons why I love Linux:
It's more responsive
Maybe I'm due for a Windows reinstall. But, that's the thing. I've never had to reinstall Linux because it became too slow and frustrating. The only reason I reinstall Linux is because I messed something up and starting from scratch seemed like a better idea than undoing my novice mistakes. There are distros out there now that make mistakes really hard to make, too!
Windows gets weighed down eventually with background applications, services, a messy registry, and just... clutter. I begin to feel claustrophobic in it after a year or so without a refresh.
Super easy installation of new programs
If you know the name of the application you want, you can install it by typing a short line of text if you're connected to the internet. I have the most experience using the aptitude package management system. It's beautiful. I remember the hell that was compiling and installing programs. Solve one dependency, and you're ready to go. WAIT, I need this, too. Now, some of that. Um, you didn't modify the config file correctly. ARRGH.
My point is, it's easy now. You may have to compile something you want every once in a while if it's not in the repositories, but even doing that is easier with some new tools that are available. It's usually a matter of copying and pasting the appropriate commands provided to you. Having 8 cores helps, too.
Less prone to infection
Linux is more secure due to its open source nature. The development community is huge and every change made to the code is documented and subjected to an approval process. It's not perfectly secure, of course. That is impossible to achieve on any system connected to the internet. However, by virtue of having a smaller user base, it isn't an appetizing target.
So much freedom!
You have complete control over your computer. You can tweak everything to your liking. You make it yours, once you know what you're doing. The really important parts are locked away, but you can get to them with a little bit of sudo!
Also, there is a ton of open source software available out there! There are usually many analogs available for most things you can do on a Windows machine. Any many programs that run on Windows are available natively on Linux.
You can still run Windows programs
The Wine project is improving all the time. It provides allows Windows programs to run within LInux. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it translates Windows API calls into Linux calls, so programs can run without emulating a full Windows OS. That's pretty neat stuff. Windows is still the best platform for gaming.
This has been a lovely trip down memory lane for me. I'd love to hear about your experiences with Linux! Why do you love it? Why do you hate it? Which is your favorite distro?
Keep it up, Steemers!