Linux

My initial reason was computation freedom. It got so much better in years, I just take the rest as a great bonus.

Tried Linux out of curiosity. Found it better than Windows for all my use cases. Stuck with it and never went back.

My values

I tried Linux multiple times (out of curiosity / contrarianism I guess) until Windows pissed me off enough, while the Steam Deck proved I could reliably run games with minimal tinkering (frankly not any worse than what I had to do on windows).

So I made the jump, and I have not looked back

i was linux-curious for a long time, finally dipped my toes in with the steam deck and got pushed over the edge by win11

Running a singular OS—I like that I can run the same system on my current four computers—two servers, one desktop, and one 12 year old Microsoft laptop.

Selfhosting—It started with an interest in Jellyfin and Qbittorrent, which led to running my own server(s), progressing to wanting to learn more Linux and run a singular OS for all devices. I think this point is focused on an interest in selfhosting.

Control—I don't like customizing my systems, its a waste of time, but I enjoy having complete control and ownership over them.

Trust and Privacy—I don't want to use any software that doesn't respect the user enough to show the source.

Freedom—I believe media, software, and information should be open access to all.

I just like a working, customizable PC that I'm in control of. KDE Plasma Desktop is everything Windows should have been, and it's actually for me to control, it's free, and it doesn't push BS on me. Fedora btw

At first privacy and just being tired of microsoft and all but I've found the process rewarding.

I am using Linux since the 90's, so my reasons might be different from "to leave Windows".

I started coding at an early age, so for me, having access to all my tools free-of-charge was a big plus. Add to that the possibility of read the source code of everything, the learning potential was mind blowing.

Windows XP pushed my off Windows. You can trace all of the crap that annoys people today back to XP where it all started.

As for why I keep choosing it? It is the most reliable and stable OS while having the best workflows. I need a computer for work, Linux is the best tool for that.

At the time, I needed a system able to handle editing a couple hundred pages document without issues. Windows with word couldn't do it, Linux managed it gracefully despite not even being at 1.0 (and it also handled the network much, much better).

I've been using it ever since.

powershell sucks. RegEdit sucks. Start menu sucks. Can't use Niri. Slow. Can't use it while updating. Inverted backslashes for paths are horrible. The only useful feature is WSL, and if you get rid of all other bullshits, you get Linux.

I’d been using Linux at work for many years, then self-hosting on Linux. I wasn’t too keen on desktop Linux because popular distros default to Gnome, which I thought was pretty meh, and it wasn’t until I tried Mint that I was compelled to make it a daily driver. I’ve distro hopped a lot and always come back to Mint.

It's a compromise.
It supports modern hardware well enough and the environment is good enough.
I do like the cleaned up state of BSD better, but the missing hardware support is pretty much killing that.

Also, all the machines I'm developing for and controlling are running some kind of RT Linux.
So I don't have that much friction between systems.

Because Windows works as dumbest os for now

Sound randomly staying off, micro sometime works, sometime not, if I try to touch sounds its sometimes just slutter all the system. I checked on viruses by free and paid subscriptioned and-viruses but founs nothing. So the best way to heal was to reinstall system. And I am do this. CachyOS going great, more faster and stable for several years even with bleeding edge updates

When I became a professional developer, I felt the friction of windows and package management. I knew of Linux desktop, and had used Ubuntu briefly in around 2008 or 09, and then at the time in 2021 I made the switch to Fedora for ease of dev. And never looked back.

I started using Linux for science. I was using a Raspberry Pi for a study and got to learn some basic stuff as part of that. Then I started to deploy my own Pis at home for self-hosting different apps I like, like Pihole. I also have an ancient desktop I bought on clearance that was running terribly, so I put Ubuntu on it and that solved a lot of performance issues! I host some stuff on there too.

A Windows 10 update brought my decent PC to a halt and at that very moment I had enough.

Windows decided my perfectly functional PC couldn’t run 11, and Linux Mint has no issues running. I’m not getting rid of a perfectly good computer just because Microsoft wants me to. My husband has to use Windows for work and it seems like a huge pain in the ass. I’m not into fiddling with computers, and Linux is at the point now where it feels no more complicated than Windows (and often significantly less complicated).

Cus fuck microsoft/windows, thats why.

I care what my computer does the same way I care about what my brain does. Since my computer is just an extension of my brain it needs to be transparent and ownable.

Pissed off on windows 11. Couldn't change things I needed or wanted. Didn't allow for basic shit. Kept on giving me ads and other fucking annoying things. Broke a lot slow and pathetic. Wanted a fucking proper start menu back again the place I been using it for last 30 fucking years. Updates took forever and ever and often broke everything and have to reinstall. Can't disable auto update ad settings kept resetting each update.

I just wanted a simple computer that just worked. Turned on and just worked every time. Nothing changes without me changing them. Simple and intuitive.

I tried windows again as a duel boot. It wiped broke my Linux partition because micro crap hates people. Never ever going back unless it's a dedicated machine for the 2 games I rarely play that work slightly better on Windows.

Rather never play games or use the Internet then switch back to windows.

EDIT : got me so mad my Grammer and spelling went out the window. Lol

I got a new PC and was really upset at the idea of putting windows on it. The ad lack of ownership of my own hardware, I couldn't do it, and so I installed Linux (again), but this time, it stuck.

Windows was trash, BeOS didn't take off, and all the good network diagnostic tools were exclusively on *nixes in the early 2000s. Later, the *nixes are better for application development and deployment. They're just built to serve data.

Windows has kind of caught up in the tooling department largely thanks to a VM, but it's still trash. LOL

Idealogically, I can own my tools and modify them if needed. I don't modify them, but hypothetically I could.

Ah, well, it is less shit than alternatives

Windows: too much ads, AI, telemetry, and just nonsense bullshit in general. MS is a malicious company and this is malicious software.

MacOS: too much Apple bloatware. It mostly stays out of the way but the fact that I can't uninstall it makes me very angry. Also the vast majority of software requires a connected Apple account. The bigger problem is the overpriced and intentionally irreparable, unupgradable and disposable hardware which is inseperable from the software.

Linux: mostly just stays out of my way, requires no account for anything. You know, the way operating systems used to work.

I subscribe to the philosophy that information should be free, and that computing should be a collaborative effort, driven by community. The world is better when we all work together to improve it.

These days, I’m less gung-ho about the technical merits of free software; I just prefer using systems that feel like they’re trying to work for me rather than exploit me.

I was too poor to buy a windows license for the pc I assembled from dumpster parts. I was also to much a rule follower to pirate windows so that led me to slackware linux and the rest is history.

I fucking hate windows 11

Because Microslop slowed down my computer to the point of uselessness.

Better software availability/support than BSDs. Refuse to use proprietary software. Plus, there's a lot of software I use that isn't available on Windows or macOS. I've tried to dual boot Windows for gaming before and I just couldn't install most of my usual software on Windows.

When the internet was new, hip and cool in 1997 it was the best way for a poor student to really get knees deep into networking and hosting. I just haven't seen much reason to try anything else.

I did use OS X for work when doing iOS development a few years.

And in a perfect world I'd rather run a UNIX certified operating system. Linux support is just so good at the moment that I can't really be bothered.

runs well on my potato pc, infinite customization, transparent and easy to inspect, made by nerds

Values, works better (for me) than any other os, gaming/fun, audio/video editing, code.

My old windows install was so cooked thst I had successfully made an illegal CON file (cygwin?) on NTFS, which Windows would refuse to delete because it should be impossible to make such a file.

After a completely fresh install, the settings app refused to launch after a day and of course sfc/dism did jack all.

Said "screw it" and dual booted Fedora because my previous experience with Ubuntu sucked snd I saw that video of Linus saying he never used Debian or Ubuntu because it didn't used to be user friendly to install. Searched up his preferred distro and it was Fedora.

Kept Windows around for a couple of months for one game until one day windows overwrote grub after an update.

Nuked it again and installed only Fedora. Found out the game now had solid support in proton so I literally did not miss anything from Windows.

Because I have self-respect.

It does more of what I want, with less time and work to maintain, more reliable and lower cost than the commercial alternatives.

I started using it 'cause I was working with a lot of Linux nerds and they convinced me to try it out. I liked the politics of the GPL and the potential in the Free ecosystem.

25 years later I refuse to use anything else. Windows & Mac are built to take options away from you, to force you do is your hardware their way, and I hate it. My machine does exactly what I want it to, with hundreds of keyboard shortcuts and a solid UI built atop transparent subsystems. Windows ties my hands while pushing ads and AI into my emails. Mac only "Just Works" if you're using it precisely the way that wasnt you to and exclusively with other iShit. No thanks.

It gets out of the way and let's me do my thing. Wether it's work or gaming.

Both Aurora on my laptop and Bazzite on my desktops, have been easier to use and maintain than Windows and OSX.

No ads, no nagging, no maintenance. The included gui and cli app stores give me everything I need. I freaking love it, it's pure bliss. Best computing experience I ever had.

~3 years running Ublue distros. 100% happyness.