Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

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exploder
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Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by exploder »

When Microsoft introduced product activation it was the last straw for me. I used to change hardware fairly often and calling Microsoft and being accused of running Windows on more than one computer did not set well with me at all! :evil:
killer de bug

Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by killer de bug »

For me it was Vista. I don't know why but 1 day it refused that I save a file on my disk. On my own system, I was locked out. :lol:

I had already tried Elyssa and had had a nice impression despite the fact that my hardware was not compatible. Since it was a new computer, I opted for LM again. Next day Helena was running. One year later, I installed Julia and got rid of the windows partition. Still true nowadays. :)
BlueKnight

Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by BlueKnight »

James_Smith wrote: but I wonder why you (yes, you) went away from Microsoft products and embraced Linux?
Because I have read some advantages of moving to Linux then I started to look at it and giving it a chance. After I realized how much better GNU/Linux was to me, I cannot simply go back.

And now I have freedom and independence.

You cannot have that with Microsoft. It takes your money, your freedom, has a very restrictive EULA and keep telling what to do on your computer.

LOL!
lyesqiz

Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by lyesqiz »

I am an open-source developer and Microsoft product couldn't help on my job. :D
Last edited by lyesqiz on Wed Aug 05, 2015 11:45 am, edited 2 times in total.
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z31fanatic
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Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by z31fanatic »

Microsoft takes away your freedom and independence? :shock:
How?
Crewp

Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by Crewp »

z31fanatic wrote:Microsoft takes away your freedom and independence? :shock:
How?
Are you kidding? :roll:
Jeepty

Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by Jeepty »

When I ran windows, I didn't have the freedom to modify my hardware. After changing my motherboard, processor, and adding a gpu, windows had begun to tell me that my windows OS was not genuine. I spent all day with customer service trying to get that one solved. Then I unlocked two hidden cores on the processor and had to do the customer service thing all over (and all day) again. That was when I discovered that I did not own a copy of the windows os. When purchasing a new computer, the OS is bonded to that specific motherboard. Up to that point, I had always assumed that I could take that windows OS disc and put it on another computer (if the first computer died of course). I was very wrong!

I first found fedora/redhat, then ubuntu, and found my home at Mint. I work on it, game on it, love it.
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z31fanatic
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Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by z31fanatic »

Crewp wrote:
z31fanatic wrote:Microsoft takes away your freedom and independence? :shock:
How?
Are you kidding? :roll:
No I am not kidding. Show me how Microsoft took your freedom and independence away away and i may believe you.
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xenopeek
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Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by xenopeek »

The topic at hand is the request by OP to share your personal reasons for moving to Linux. Don't turn this into trying to invalidate other people's personal reasons for doing (or not doing!) something. Share your story, read what others shared, and move on with your day. You don't get points for burning topics to the ground.

It's a bit like arguing how to pronounce tomato. Makes for a silly discussion here.

Microsoft does take away users' freedoms. If you don't understand, read the FSF definition of free software and its four essential freedoms: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html. Now you can argue about these freedoms not being important to you personally, but you can't refute the fact that Linux does give users these freedoms while Microsoft doesn't.
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OhioJB
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Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by OhioJB »

When Windows XP was no longer supported I had to either buy Windows 8 for about $100, or find something cheaper. Had heard about Linux so started researching it online. Knew so little about it I wasn't sure if it would be accessible to me, whether it was even an OS, or if it was in my price range. After reading up on it I found it was DEFINITELY in my price range since I couldn't afford to buy an OS at the time (although I planned to and have recently started to donate to make up for the freebie once I had the money). Heard the complaints about Windows 8, so thought why not give Linux a try.

First Linux distro I tried was Ubuntu. It was nice and easy to use, but it wasn't until I installed Mint that I felt I found something worthy of having instead of Windows. As a non-technical person having apps already installed was very important to me. Unlike Ubuntu, Mint detected my printer so I didn't have to search the internet to find what command to type in the terminal to install my printer. Little things like that make a difference for the typical home user who just wants to get online and take care of things without too much setting up. By the way, I recently got adventurous and tried several other Linux distros that I thought I might want to dual boot with Mint, and not one was to my liking, or I had trouble with the install. And I'm talking about some of the ones that are high on the list at Distrowatch. Mint has never given me trouble like some of the others have while installing. It's a very professional product, and visually appealing (Cinnamon fan here). And I rarely ever come across something I can't do on the internet that seemed to happen a little too often when I first started using Linux Ubuntu and Mint (compatibility issues on certain websites).

Answering the question a little more directly:

1) Price, which was critical at the time as I couldn't afford to pay $99 plus tax for Windows 8.
2) Security. Hate always worrying about getting a virus while using Windows. Linux may not be totally immune but it's not targeted the way Windows and Internet Explorer are, and from what I understand Linux is built with fewer security holes, Correct me if I'm wrong on that,
3) Aesthetics. While I don't like the Unity desktop on Ubuntu, I do like Mint's Cinnamon layout. Much more than I like Windows 8 or 8.1. I have and like Windows 7 on my laptop, along with Media Player, but by the time I was converting they had already come out with Win 8, so even if I could have afforded a new version it would have been hard to find Win 7 to upgrade my older PC.
4) Attitude. My perception of the attitudes at Microsoft is they are arrogant, money hungry, and don't respect their customers. In 2000 I had my first experience with having the internet at home. Saw an ad for Webtv of all things and it was in my price range compared to a computer, so I bought one. After having it for a few years I called to delay one of the automatic payments for a day or two. Had never asked them to do that previously, and thought it would be a piece of cake for a loyal customer who had paid on time through direct debit for several years. The guy on the phone couldn't have been more condescending, which I didn't expect. Said he'd do it "this one time". Really? Little jerk. I had to call for technical support once and got the same type of attitude. Between that, Bill Gates' attitude which I've never been a fan of, and Microsoft's money grubbing ways, I've been turned off by them for a long time. The Linux Mint team from everything I can tell are very happy to help, answer questions, and enjoy making a great distro even better. Recently I had a question about a small donation I made, and Clement himself replied within a day or two. Ever hear of Bill Gates doing that???

I will give the Microsoft IT professionals who frequent their forums credit as they were very helpful when I had an issue once. But previous experiences over the phone; problems with security vulnerabilities; gouging customers (in my opinion) so that Bill Gates can then go and give half his money away to show what a great humanitarian he is; and designing Win 8, 8.1, and from the sounds of it 10 in hard to use ways for many users; prompted me to find out what Linux was all about.

And glad I did find Mint. Hope users continue to help support the project as it's the only distro I've been happy with so far, and I've tried probably about 10 or so, including some of the most used besides Mint. With some minor changes it'd even be something I'd be ok with installing on my 76 year old mother's laptop. But I know she'd not be ok with having to worry about manually installing the updates or having to use her password every time she does so. She dislikes Windows 8.1, and I know she'd like Mint but wont push it on her. Gave her the option but she wasn't enthused. Wasn't able to show her the distro on my laptop because her wifi didn't automatically link to it, and I didn't have time to mess around with it that day. Maybe in the future.
Buffki

Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by Buffki »

Linux is free, I have windows 8.1.

So far Linux is far more obtuse and complex to understand. It also messed up my main harddrive. My opinion might change but Linux seems to be more for enthusiasts than an OS everyone can enjoy (which is a shame because it is free).
pacho37

Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by pacho37 »

Buffki wrote:Linux is free, I have windows 8.1.

So far Linux is far more obtuse and complex to understand. It also messed up my main harddrive. My opinion might change but Linux seems to be more for enthusiasts than an OS everyone can enjoy (which is a shame because it is free).
Personally I find Linux Mint to be easier to use and maintain than Windows, surely there are other distributions which are more complex and geared towards advanced users, but Mint is as easy as it gets.
People are just used to Windows so they have initial difficulties with linux, many of them expect everything to work exactly as it does in Windows and when it doesn't they give up at the first hurdle and I can hardly blame them for that. The power of habit is difficult to overcome.
I always remember this quote from some linux forum: "Learning Linux isn't hard. Unlearning Windows is." :-)
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Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by BigEasy »

pacho37 wrote:People are just used to Windows so they have initial difficulties with linux, many of them expect everything to work exactly as it does in Windows and when it doesn't they give up at the first hurdle and I can hardly blame them for that.
What is exactly as in Windows? Click on something then something opens? There is Mint. :mrgreen:
And Android, OS X, Windows itself...
I never understend what is really hard in Linux for regular users.
Windows assumes I'm stupid but Linux demands proof of it
Buffki

Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by Buffki »

pacho37 wrote:
Buffki wrote:Linux is free, I have windows 8.1.

So far Linux is far more obtuse and complex to understand. It also messed up my main harddrive. My opinion might change but Linux seems to be more for enthusiasts than an OS everyone can enjoy (which is a shame because it is free).
Personally I find Linux Mint to be easier to use and maintain than Windows, surely there are other distributions which are more complex and geared towards advanced users, but Mint is as easy as it gets.
People are just used to Windows so they have initial difficulties with linux, many of them expect everything to work exactly as it does in Windows and when it doesn't they give up at the first hurdle and I can hardly blame them for that. The power of habit is difficult to overcome.
I always remember this quote from some linux forum: "Learning Linux isn't hard. Unlearning Windows is." :-)
You are probably right, I am just very frustrated. I used the Linux 10 installation because it was for a CD not reading it is obsolete. So in addition to being pretty illeterate in computers and new to linux... I picked a bad apple out of the bunch supposedly.
My opinion will probably change when I am more familiar with the platform and get the latest version. Apologies.
BlueKnight

Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by BlueKnight »

BigEasy wrote: I never understend what is really hard in Linux for regular users.
When I was learning Linux (I am still learning) I found some things were very different:
1.The way you install programs.
2.File system structure (forget about C:\Documents\and\bla-bla-bla).
3.Where is the drive I connected? (Is it D:\ E:\ Z:\)
4.This recently installed program does not run. Could not find some lib.so or nothing happens at all.
5.File permissions. Why can't I delete my own file. Or execute this program.
6.Where's "Winamp"? The problem not all programs are cross-platform. LOL!
7.Ops, I broke my system with package manager and I can't restore it.
8.My device doesn't work... Where's the driver, the software?

Those are what I could remember for now. :)
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Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by Pierre »

Microsoft:
4.This recently installed program does not run. Could not find HAL.DLL or nothing happens at all.

8.My device doesn't work... Where's the driver, the software? Whadda you mean - it's *not* on that cd ??.

drove Me Mad - on too many occasions. ..
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Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] - when your problem is solved!
and DO LOOK at those Unanswered Topics - - you may be able to answer some!.
pacho37

Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by pacho37 »

Buffki wrote: My opinion will probably change when I am more familiar with the platform and get the latest version. Apologies.
No need for apologies. I know that it's easy to get frustrated when things don't work as expected, and I had my share of difficulties installing and using linux.
Usually such frustration and difficulties can be avoided just by reading available info, either here or on other forums and, when necessary, asking more advanced users for help.
Sometimes it's useful to remember the many moments when we were frustrated using Windows but we were very understanding and kept using it for years - but now when confronted with
one linux quirk or some glitch even, we readily dismiss the whole platform on the spot.
lmintnewb2

Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by lmintnewb2 »

Should I list the reasons in alphabetical, numerical .... hmmmm, order of magnitude ? :D

Nah ... really is too many of the suckers to type out and can't sum up the energy for such a venture atm. Open source just seems to open so many doors when it comes to personal or other types of computing. Makes a user dizzy with all the possibilities and projects they can undertake due to the skills and generosity of the people that've made all this awesome software available.

Gnu/Linux also clearly has a distinctly different agenda, attitude and motivations than many closed source and Corp entities do when it comes to every aspect of how the userbase is treated (esp M$). For M$ it's a sale, judging from what I've seen over the decades they aren't even really motivated to do a great job or create the best OS possible. If they did/do ... who's going to buy their next offering/"upgrade" ?

Have some serious bones to pick with M$ in terms of their practices, conduct and policies. Pretty much outright criminal, malice and aforethought kinds of behavior imo.

Believe majority of open source developers and maintainers are the opposite. They want to make whatever they're working on as good as they possibly can, as useful and popular as can be and then work to continually keep things that way.
MintBean

Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by MintBean »

I was a long time Windows user, but became frustrated with viruses and malware, and the fact that it seems to be an accepted fact that Windows installs slow down over time and the best option is to reinstall.

The I turned to Apple with a macbook pro. The hardware is crazy expensive, but I believed (and still believe) it's the finest laptop available. I was prepared to pay that premium for the hardware and a nicer OS.... BUT... then I realised Apple hardware was increasingly being designed with inbuilt obsolescence. Glued in batteries, lack of user upgradable parts (hard drives, memory) and that a perfectly usable computer only 5 or so years old could be rendered obsolete by a lack of security updates when the latest MacOS won't run on it (by design).

Back to Windows for a short while, then an infinite crash loop on trying to install a major update was the final straw. Installed Mint on both my desktop and laptop and never looked back.
c07vus

Re: Why Linux? Why not Microsoft?

Post by c07vus »

Because Microsoft are crooks. Plain and simple.


Also, windows is slow, heavy, bug riddled, spyware riddled, malware riddled, not open source and plain sh*t.
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