That’s interesting! Hopefully I get to employ that at work when it goes wide release.
I always wanted to use Linux, I don’t know what the reasons where 10 years or so ago, but gaming always held me back.
These day’s that is not a issue anymore and the reason I am using Linux today is because I was sick of Windows 8 and especially 10. The mix of PC and tablet UI together with the invasive spyware and the constant resetting of tweaks and lack of UI customization was the main driving force to switch.
Linux (Cinnamon) is a DE made for the PC and I can finally have a sweet dark theme. No spyware built in and it only updates when I want too and I am the one in power.
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Me too, I want to update when I want, not when M$ thinks I should, which was usually at the worst possible time. Win10/1909 seems a little more reasonable, but it’s too little too late and lacks privacy. I was content through win98SE, while tolerating XP and win7. My first dual boot was 98/XP. Win8 drove me to alternatives - Ubuntu->Mint->Manjaro->EOS, although I’ve tried many [good] distros w/Cinnamon. My current needs are modest: browsing, email, shopping and kernel building.
I use Linux because I hate the way windows works now.
- The constant “hey, use edge instead of chrome” Hey, use bing instead of duckduckgo"
- The updates that break core features of the OS, for example I have a usb headset on my windows machine, I only access this computer via steam remote play and the only thing it does is run steam. One day I went to use steam remote play and the window machine refused to send audio to the usb headset, the mic worked but sound did not.
- The “sorry, your application isn’t compatible with the new update so we removed the app for you.”
- The shit Windows search that sometimes cant even find control panel.
I also prefer to use open source software where possible and don’t like everything sending telemetry back to the mothership without knowing exactly what is sent. I think some telemetry is necessary so they can know how software is used or what parts are never touched but all the just give us everything is not cool.
I also like how the OS is just not one big advertisement. where you don’t have to flip a switch to turn off ad’s that really just turns off personalized ad’s but still can do other ads.
I also like that you or others can submit bug reports and know that in most cases they will actually be looked and and get responses to vs windows “hey thanks”
I like the fact that when you update you know that you are getting fixes or more likely new features and it happens quick. The OS doesn’t have to spend 20 minutes “Getting Ready to apply updates”
I also like the fact you don’t need 15 additional programs to make your keyboard, mouse, headset, usb dock work.
I use Linux because it is probably the single best open source long term software project and still active.
as a software enigneer in ADST airspace, drone and sat tech I understand the power of Linux well. Yes I do use MacOS for my business and windows for gaming, but Linux is sort of a passion project. Linux is and will be big part of the future of software technology every smart and open minded person gets that.
so I use Linux as a passion project but also because I am aware future of SE is open source and Linux.
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One of the main reasons is that my old 2012 laptop can still run as snappy as when it was brand new, instead of having to buy a new machine every few years just to keep up with the operating system.
KDE Plasma BTW.
I stay for a lot of the same reasons stated by others.
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My first experience with Windows Vista lasted about three days. It was quite painful so I installed Ubuntu and never went back. Haven’t purchased a brand new computer or used Windows since then.
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I use Linux because I have access to every part of the OS, and if I want to I can change any part of it.
Microsoft and Apple have their place in computing, and I’m glad they do what they do. However for me I find their OSes quite limiting, because you have to play by their rules. I consider Linux a lot like a poem by Robert Frost called The Road Not Taken. Here’s the poem:
The Road Not Taken
BY ROBERT FROST
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
I think the last two sentences say a lot on why I use Linux.
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Error #40 is my favorite
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The first day I used a PC there was windows .
The third day Ubuntu was there too .
The fifth day Windows was gone .
I have only used Linux . Because I could learn easily plus our schools promoted Linux and Free software from the beginning 
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Where ever you’re from you go to a really good school! I wasn’t lucky enough to discover Linux through my school system that’s for sure… I remember for my IT GCSE I had to make some excel spreadsheet inventories with all sorts of formulae, I haven’t even used them again. I hated it 
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@Hystrix Lucky you!
We had school DOS and two PC with Win 95 
Was boring as hell… 
Unless we hacked some games and hide it in system folders 
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On school we had msx 
I use Linux because back in college about halfway thru my first semester my dorm room was broken into and my roommate and I had our computers, PlayStation, etc stolen.
While in college I also worked, so I’d have classes until about 3 or 4 and work until 930pm or so. And the computer lab at school would close at 10, so I started to drive back home 40 min after work so I could do homework.
My mom had this old “broken” laptop from work that the hard drive had failed on. I worked at a big box retailer and the computer department found me a working laptop hard drive for the old Dell to donate to me that had been sitting in a drawer forever. At this point I had a computer, a hard drive, and no money for anything else since I was working to pay for college. Ubuntu was free. Windows was not. And since any extra money I had was now being swallowed up by fuel driving home and loss of sleep. . . Linux won.
And after a short stint with unity and Ubuntu 12.04, I found Linux Mint and I’ve never really used Windows in any real capacity since.
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That’s an incredible story. I wish that were true for me. In the USA Google and Microsoft are killing each other to get into schools. Google especially is investing big time with super cheap computers for schools.
Poverty… i was with struggling with homelessness much of the time and had trouble finding work and my resources were very strained to say the least… Using linux cost me very little…I was using mandriva at first the free version and later the paid sub… then went to ubuntu and debian and so many derivatives… Poverty was the motivating factor… couldn’t afford to pay to put windows on a pc so it was time to learn a linux desktop… Gnome 2 aka Mate is still one of my preferred desktops as it is the easiest to get running with (gnome 3 seems like it was meant for a mobile phone not a desktop) Though i have learned to love XFCE quite a lot. Openbox, properly configured is still my preference though. Unity was actually setup a lot like how i setup gnome 2 except the desktop switcher wasn’t on the top bar the way i like it… and i refused to use it until they gave me the option to put it on the top bar. Pop ups and pop outs and the like i dont want… I want things to stay on the desktop i started them on and not follow me to other virtual workspaces.
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I use Linux because it just works. 
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I am from Keralam, India 
Ubuntu is the default OS in schools
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The only thing I can say in defense of my school using Windows, I started on 3.1 in grade school. Ubuntu was barely a thing when I was learning.
Now, I can’t fathom why schools wouldn’t use this stuff.
Honestly it’s just a general lack of knowledge. Especially in American schools, I’m often surprised by the amount of proprietary software that is required by the school district for both of my kids. I could only imagine the amount of money schools would save not having to purchase volume licenses.
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