Comments on Linux and Free software: Why have you switched to GNU/Linux?

I was a professional corporate software developer ...

2009-11-12T11:30:37.359-05:00

I was a professional corporate software developer for many years, from 1989 on developed applications in Windows. I dreamed of the day when I could dump Windows crap software and never ever have to get waltzed past Microsoft's "innovative" software 'components" ever again when I went to a help file or web site (which move frequently) in order to look something up.
I also got fed up with icons rearranging themselves, windows crashes, and sub standard security fixes.
I also never liked Microsoft's policy of treating their paying customers as "objects". Freedom came a few years ago and I've used either debian or Fedora core, with great satisfaction ever since. And discovered a bunch of great open sourced apps that I never would have found or used in Blimpdoze.

I've been using Arch for a while. As with most pe...

2009-09-30T10:30:16.463-04:00

I've been using Arch for a while.

As with most people, I started with Ubuntu a few years ago. However, I was quite interested in the core of Windows. I was so disappointed that I couldn't gain access to it. Then I saw that you could with Linux.

I love Arch, and I'll never move away from it. NEVER!

It was curiosity to learn as a computer addict tha...

2009-09-30T09:56:14.471-04:00

It was curiosity to learn as a computer addict that made me choose Linux and the other thing was the magazine LINUX FOR YOU itz gr8 i love it and i love FOSS now wana spread it by any means i can FOSS ROcks!!

I never switched "to linux", as I've never used an...

2009-09-30T06:35:17.563-04:00

I never switched "to linux", as I've never used anything else - I've been using linux exclusively since kernel 0.99, and slackware distributed on masses of floppy disks.

I switched over from Windows to Linux first in Jan...

2009-09-30T03:51:05.798-04:00

I switched over from Windows to Linux first in Jan 2009. I wanted the freedom to install any software the way I wanted... Unfortunately, the CD I burnt had a bug in initram fs. Due to that, my system started crashing and I had to move back to Windows XP. Once my exams were over, I thought of trying Fedora 11. I found out that Windows burning software(Nero, Sonic, etc.) could not burn the .iso image correctly. That's why I had the above issue.
This time, I installed Fedora 11 using USB. It worked like a charm. Now, it's been 4 months since I have started using Fedora 11.
I wanted the features that Windows 7 provides on my system without having to purchase it and also without the need to upgrade my system. That's when I found KDE does all that and much more. I believe that Microsoft copied these features from KDE.
Using linux has never been so easier for a guy who was stuck with Windows GUI. The switch has been really easy.
Since I do have projects on UNIX, it gives me an excellent opportunity to try out Linux. I am amazed by the speed of Linux and also the security it provides.
Kudos to open source. Long live Open Source.

Back in 2003 I tried Mandrake 9.1 on my old Toshib...

2009-09-30T01:55:45.320-04:00

Back in 2003 I tried Mandrake 9.1 on my old Toshiba Satellite and everything worked out of the box. The hardware, even the pcmcia lan card was instantly recognized (which wasn't the case with Win98/2k).

Installing Mandrake was less time consuming than installing Windows with all the updates, necessary drivers and software.

Since than I am stuck with Linux, moving from Mandrake to Fedora Core 1 and later with the Dell Inspiron to Mandrake 10.1. In 2006 I migrated to Ubuntu which I am still using.

However, I agree with Anonymous that Adobe and Quark should release Linux-Versions of their programs. I know that there are oo-alternatives available but as long as clients and printers' shops are using Windows or Mac-Software, a full migration to Linux is only possible if commercial products are available for all platforms.

At the company I work for we use Cygwin as a make ...

2009-09-22T14:49:12.074-04:00

At the company I work for we use Cygwin as a make environment for embedded software. Richard Stallman would call this GNU/Windows :-)

Anyway, I had some make related task and had to google a lot for sed tutorials. Somehow I ended up reading the online version of "The Art of Unix Programming" by Eric Steven Raymond. I did not know Unix, but this book summed up all my experience as a programmer.

I realized Cygwin was a Unix. I wanted a Unix at home too. I installed Ubuntu 9.04 eventually as dual-boot with XP. Not that I use XP very much now. Just rarely to test programs I compile on Linux for Windows :-)

I love that Ubuntu does not get the Blue Screen of Death every day. I love the freedom. And I love the fact that GNU/Linux is so much fun to hack.

I also admire both Linus Thorvalds the machine code guru and Richard Stallman the philosopher.

And I wonder why our company invests the huge amount of effort and money continually to maintain a MS-based IT-infrastructure. Just managing the licenses to avoid BSA is an incredible hassle!

At school, we had to use various UNIX systems (Sol...

2009-09-22T08:06:01.105-04:00

At school, we had to use various UNIX systems (Solaris or Linux) to do our projects, so I eventually got sick of running Putty and Cygwin on Windows so I tried Linux out. I then discovered how awesome the penguin is!

I switched to Linux because: #1 - I wanted to lea...

2009-09-20T19:05:29.372-04:00

I switched to Linux because:
#1 - I wanted to learn more about my PC from the inside out. Linux seemed like an OS I could dig into, roll-up my sleeves and learn.
#2 - I can't afford the prices that are charged for software. I need good software that works (including the OS) but will not break my bank. Linux seemed like a good fit.
#3 - The work I do involves developing applications that run on servers. My company moved to RHEL and it made sense to learn as much about the system as possible to stay current.

Conclusion: I am so glad that I made the switch, I rarely touch my Windows OS and my system ROCKS with performance and capability!

Because I kept having to do a "clean" install of W...

2009-09-20T17:51:07.911-04:00

Because I kept having to do a "clean" install of Windows every so often to keep my computer running fast.

I was using SunOS (& later Solaris) at work which ...

2009-09-19T21:08:52.993-04:00

I was using SunOS (& later Solaris) at work which made sense, I installed OS/2 but it didn't have a lot of the stuff SunOS had. Someone suggested that I try this new thing called Linux & that, as they say, was that. The distro was Slackware on a 486. Oh and the kernel version number was 0.99. The cdrom didn't work with that version but version 1.0 worked a charm!

I switched to linux because I'm lazy mostly, less ...

2009-09-19T11:33:42.291-04:00

I switched to linux because I'm lazy mostly, less pita to run linux day to day, less work on keeping the os clean, linux just works.
Biggest work i do nowadays is to reinstall ubuntu on every new version, I do that mostly to get rid of old crust to save some hd-space, everything that i want to keep I backup the rest I forget :)

Pretty much all of the above, Virus, Freedom, tire...

2009-09-19T08:01:19.616-04:00

Pretty much all of the above, Virus, Freedom, tired of limitations related to Windows. Really sick and tired of vendor lock-in dead ends with hardware and software. More memory left over for applications and not used up by the operating system. Less bloat related to auto updates. I can still low level format and control what gets put on my PC, that is no longer possible for Windows PC users. The bloat is back with the first forced upgrade.

The #1 reason for me was control. I decide when and what to update, period.

Nothing goes on my production machine unless I have tested it out on a test machine first, especially not updates, patches, fixes, etc... thus there is zero chance of down time related to someone else's mistake.

I really do not care how rare that event may be, just the fact that it could happen at an inappropriate time is enough.

I still use Windows and Macintosh for some work, primarily testing web / cloud type apps. But have been 100% Linux at home for a couple of years now and am loving it. Portability from Linux to other platforms for development is a huge plus.

But the main reason is control Control when to update. Control what to install. Control what applications I run and when. Control of my total cost of ownership. My TCO is a heck of allot lower now! I will pay for innovation, not because a company wants to force me to upgrade.

Hint to Windows users considering Linux; If you have to purchase a new PC, get one from either ZaReason or System76 that is built for Linux. You can always run Windows if you want, but the reverse is not always true. If you purchase a Windows PC from a big box store, there may be vendor locked-in hardware hassles to get Linux to run 100%. Granted this is less and less of an issue anymore. Thus if the Linux boot disk works on your system, you can be sure that all your hardware will work when you install a Linux distro.

Better safe than sorry, purchase Linux first, add Windows later if you must.

Who is in control of your PC and IT infrastructure you, or some other company? It should be you and only you.

I have more or less completely switched over from ...

2009-09-19T04:31:31.450-04:00

I have more or less completely switched over from Windows to Ubuntu.I sympathize with the idea of F(L)OSS. As far as I can see, Windows really only offer one advantage to Linux, that is the support from third parties. The only thing keeping me on dual-boot are some Adobe programs (ok, I like gaming too, but that I can live with).
I believe that I am one of many professionals that would switch completely from Windows if our primary tools were available.
Yes there are free options to Ps, Ai, and Id. Not anyone that's good enough though. If there were, then no problem.
In the case of layout programs, there really are just two commercial options as well, InDesign and QuarkXpress. Neither available for Linux. The extra time and effort currently needed to do professional work in Scribus/The Gimp/Inkscape is not really cost-efficient, plus, you will have some problems with colour profiling and no official PMS support (The Gimp doesn't even give us good CMYK).
I can really see only two solutions. Either Adobe, Quark or both starts building for Linux distros, or someone puts a lot of effort,know-how and possibly money into developing professional software that's not just going there, but already there.

And yes, I am completely aware of the naming issue. Linux kernel, GNU tools, I get it...

It's easier.

2009-09-18T23:14:32.240-04:00

It's easier.

I grew up with old computers around. We had Z80 ma...

2009-09-18T22:33:28.162-04:00

I grew up with old computers around. We had Z80 machines with BASIC interpreters when I was a kid (MSX and a Spectrum ZX clone), and later we had lots of PCs. I remember when Windows 95 came along, that was the day I think separates the "good old times" from the "modern trash".

One of the reasons for the switch was because I felt the feeling of the old "micreiros" to which I identify very much still exists in the FOSS world, while uicrosopht users treat their machines more and more like a simple electrodomestic.

My parents were old-school punch-card programmers, and my mother always told me there was this thing called Unix, and other "grownup" OSes that were much better than the toys we ran in our home desktops. When I found out we could have a free Unix system at a desktop, I went crazy looking for getting any. That was right at the time I decided to enhance my programming skills also. For some time I even used emacs and gcc on windows while I couldn't get any free POSIX distro to work.

I started with FreeBSD, and eventually moved to Debian (suggested to me by RMS himself! :] ) and now I use mainly Debian ever since. It's been almost 10 years I got rid of Microsuffer in my life.

I can say what moved me was first not just the quality of the product, but exactly WHAT it offers. It's a UNIX system where it's easy to develop using gcc, latex and emacs, and where we can ran many different window managers... The kinds of thing I do in Linux are much more difficult to do in windows, period. It's DIFFERENT, at least to me. So I was definitely not looking for just a "substitute" to Windows and Office and IE, etc. I don't use Linux because I'm "stubborn" or "cocky" as many wind0ls users think of me...

In second place there is the political and moral aspect, to which I give a lot of attention, and the money problem is also part of the question.

"Why have you switched to GNU/Linux?" I haven't. ...

2009-09-18T18:06:43.976-04:00

"Why have you switched to GNU/Linux?"

I haven't. I'm still using Linux.

Can we please stop this silly 'GNU/Linux' nomenclature? And please don't take personal offense. This isn't an attack directed at anybody who uses that term. I'm just annoyed that zealots feel it necessary to point out the fact that this is an operating system that is part of the GNU project and that Linux is actually just the kernel. Yes, I understand that. But if Linux is to be taken seriously by the mainstream computer user as an alternative to Windows or OS X we've got to drop the 'GNU/Linux' thing. But that's just my 2 cents.

Got started after buying my first laptop with vist...

2009-09-18T13:46:45.927-04:00

Got started after buying my first laptop with vista preinstalled - disaster! The machine got to be too slow after a couple of weeks and the final straw was the problems I found just trying to burn a dvd. After defragmenting the machine I don't know how many times, I pulled out the Ubuntu cd, wiped the hdd and never looked back!

I didn't switch to GNU/Linux (Slackware), I starte...

2009-09-18T12:56:34.887-04:00

I didn't switch to GNU/Linux (Slackware), I started right away on PC with it. I switched Platforms (Amiga to PC) back in the 90ies and being used to a real UI, Multitasking and Filenames bigger than 8 chars using DOS and Win3.11 on PC really felt erm... ugly. So, when I tried Linux it was almost as being at home at once.

I switched to Linux for two reasons: 1. I was fed...

2009-09-18T12:45:44.297-04:00

I switched to Linux for two reasons:

1. I was fed up with Windows and was looking for an alternative to replace it.

2. I felt that at the time (late 2001 - early 2002) that Linux wasn't going away any time soon, and I thought it would be beneficial to me professionally to learn the ropes of Linux (since I work in IT).

So far #1 has definitely been accomplished. I've been Linux only (no Windows) since 2003 now, and I'm certainly not looking back.

My reason #2 has yet to be realized, though I can say that my hands-on immersion into Linux has made me much more adept at technology in general, so Linux has benefitted me indirectly in my profession, though I'd still love to find a job where I can manage a bunch of Linux desktops.

My work demanded me using Fedora core 6. I had no ...

2009-09-18T12:36:07.537-04:00

My work demanded me using Fedora core 6. I had no prior experience with Linux but after a couple of months even the os on my personal laptop changed to ubuntu. Now its been more than 3 years. I think the shift just happens once u try GNU/Linux

I m an "early" adopter of GNU/Linux , around 1999 ...

2009-09-18T11:48:40.475-04:00

I m an "early" adopter of GNU/Linux , around 1999 . The first reason is the Philosophical model , and the respect of freedom, the participatory culture, the hacker way (in white hat sens ), the effect on society of using "good" computing , after that the second is technical reasons ( virus , trojan...) , and finally the Unix philosophy (read the Unix and Linux philosophy book that show difference of several system ) of using PC (I love the power of command line ).

Finally every road lead me to GNU / Linux :)

I've started using Debian back in December 2006, b...

2009-09-18T11:35:31.807-04:00

I've started using Debian back in December 2006, because I was gonna start studying Computer Science the next year, and needed something more challenging than just all that Windows crap.. so I've used Debian for a year and something.. then Slackware a little bit, and after that, I've been using Arch Linux and still am.. I don't need anything from Microsoft, I'm glad to say. Like some people said here: no more cracked apps, no more viruses!

I use both platforms. Windows for work but ensnare...

2009-09-18T11:33:11.671-04:00

I use both platforms. Windows for work but ensnared in qemu-kvm running on 64bit arch :-)

i started with debian. their repo is so big. many, many packages for miscellaneous purposes. but arch is more simple. very transparent. arch meet my needs. thanks to all him developers, becose this is the right way.

i started around the time Lycoris came out now i u...

2009-09-18T10:59:25.084-04:00

i started around the time Lycoris came out
now i use Ubuntu