Linux

It was just an extension of my interest in computers since I was young ^ ^ This new, completely different OS fascinated me when I was growing up, and led to me installing Ubuntu on an old laptop. I never made an actual jump to it until I was a few years older, and had Windows slowing down my laptop that I used for work. I jumped onto the Manjaro train that was happening at the time, and eventually ended up installing Arch on my main PC (´･ᴗ･ ` )

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.

Because of Microslop. Who needs more reasons, huh?

What started off as a kid as mild interest in something "different." Different in the sense that it was different than that of what I grew up using. Anywhere from the lame old school Mac computers in primary school, to the Windows PCs that were everywhere. I did go to school for a degree in Cyber Security; and of course got my hands on some different Linux distros over the years, so between my younger years of tinkering, and schooling I had exposure to Linux early on.

Fast forward a bit, years and years pass by and I was a Windows user because that was just readily available and accessible and what I had primarily used for most of my life; and I was getting fed up with what Microsoft was doing and pushing. That being said, I initially switched from Windows 10/11 to Arch Linux out of hatred for Microsoft.

Well, my reasoning has changed drastically. It used to be because I hated Microsoft and all of their shenanigans. Now I use Linux out of love for Linux. Sure, I still hate Microsoft; but that is a naturally progression the further I get into my niche.

I love open source, and my beliefs on open source has permeated through other beliefs. I think that the collective of human knowledge should be effectively "open source" and available to all. We shouldn't be limited on what we want to learn just because of a corporation or business entity says they arbitrarily own a subset of knowledge.

Anyways, tldr; started as hate for Microsoft, and turned into genuine love for Linux and Open Source Software.

For me, I got fed up with Windows 11 updates resetting my settings and even reinstalling copilot. I felt like I had no control over my computer, so I put Linux on it to get some control 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 11 was stress. I was spending far too much time keeping it the way I want it - stable, no cloud, no AI. A four hour call with MS tech support (that went in the most idiotic circles) kinda sealed the fate of my new desktop build (old one had a failing MB, no choice but to finally upgrade hardware) and switched both it and another desktop the next day.

Much less stressed now, even when things go weird and wonky.

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.

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.

i like having a usable desktop and a nonblinking disk access led within 30 seconds, including bios and bootloader.

I really like the control and malleability

Independent to the above, using windows feels really, really bad these days.

I want to use open-source software, developed from people for people. I don't want corporates to exploit my data and take away my freedom.

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.

IT worker, close to 50 years old, only ever could afford low-mid range tech, gamer. Been using windows for over 30 years and linux for 8. Linux works better than windows and it allowed me to improve my tech skills beyond a desktop machine.

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

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.

I switched to Linux full time because I didn't like Windows Xp. Windows has only gotten worse since then and Linux has only gotten better.

Same reason as with Google Android. These genocide supporting companies take the liberty to collect and sell my data, manage my hardware and frequently break core functionality with updates to push their slop on me, while adding ads to EVERYTHING. Most updates are not even about security. There is like a 100 reasons, really. I could sum it up as "annoying".

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.

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

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

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 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.

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

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

Its's free/open source, I get not shitty "upload to the cloud" and generally forced to stuff I don't want, it has the super button where it shows all the apps and I can click right on it, I don't need a task bar. Also sticked to it when I was in college and now it became my main OS.

Because Windows 11 will never touch hardware I own. I've been using it at work for several years, I've experienced first-hand their utter disdain for users, and privacy.

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.

Had an old laptop with win xp and tried out Ubuntu instead of moving to vista which was terrible.

I still dual booted Windows 7 for many years on my main PC but at some point that was too bloated and I moved permanently to Ubuntu and later Arch.

As a programmer I got to experience the evolution of almost all tools support going from back then "Windows install instructions, Mac install and Linux - you're on your own" to now: "Linux, maybe Mac.. and Windows, just use our Linux VM"!

Took Windows apart until i couldn't anymore what i wanted, because it broke it's fickle update process and i realized, i'm fighting against the system here. That's where i switched 100% to Linux.

A complete and total lack of bullshit.

If something is wrong, there's a concrete reason, no matter how deep the cause and you can always dig far down enough to catch and deal with it.

I switched to get away from the windows telemetry that started to freak me out, but i stayed for the customization that allows me to completely make it my own, and the fact that linux doesn't do shit in the background without me knowing it and just does what i actually want it to do. I tried using windows again in a dualboot configuration when i wanted to play gta online, plus i ended up needing hdmi 2.1, but i just couldn't do it, it was too frustrating and annoying to use. I bought a dp to hdmi adapter and figured i'd rather give up on anti-cheat games like gta online if it means i never have to touch windows again.

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.

My values