Reasons to use Linux | Why choose Linux? | Windows vs Linux? MacOS vs Linux?

You can find a ton of articles about reasons to use Linux. Now let us list a ton of those reasons, they are not in any kind of order.







1. Load of different distributions to choose from

There is no other OS that has so many distributions like Linux. You can find hundreds of Linux distributions from Distrowatch.com

Top ten distributions in the last twelve months, at the time writing this post:

Personally, I am using Debian 9 on my desktop. I also got two servers, other one is running Debian 8 and the other Ubuntu 16.04. Very satisfied to all of them.

2. No annoying scheduled updates

Linux won’t shut your computer down or restart it on “quiet hours”. On many distributions, you can just point and click to update all packages once, yes every software will update. When you start using Linux, you will most likely fall in love with its command line, so you can do the updates with a few words, and install almost every software you will need just like that. Only on some rare updates you will need to restart your PC.

3. World’s leading mobile OS is based on Linux kernel

Android is based on Linux. Not exactly a real reason maybe, only in my and some others opinions.

4. Linux is completely open source and free for all

You don’t need to pay for anything. Office with 100 Windows machines costs thousands of U.S. Dollars. Office with 100 Linux machines, well, you only pay for hardware. Of course by using Linux at your office, you would do a decent donation to the creators of the Linux distribution used, right?

This isn’t of course a hundred percent accurate fact, there is closed source parts in Linux too, for example in some drivers.

5. Security is awesome

Linux security is great. Just remember to keep packages updated and download from official repositories, it’s very unlikely that you will get hacked, or get your machine locked.

6. Over 66% of worlds web servers use Linux

Source: W3Techs

And also over 99% of worlds TOP 500 supercomputers are using it.

Which means, more users for Linux, is more people to the common Linux community.

7. Linux doesn’t track your steps

All huge IT-Companies like Microsoft, Google and Apple are currently on a stupid race, “who collects the most detailed infos of their users”.

Get your freedom back by just using Linux, any data from your operating system usage is not collected unless you want to send an error report. Well this is never a 100% sure thing.

8. Make it look like yours

You can customize any Linux Desktop Environment to look very unique. Do anything you like to the design. Customize your GNOME 3 desktop looks

9. Awesome community

People actually are interested in helping others for free. I think the most widest community is Ask Ubuntu.

10. No forced store downloads

Feel that candy crush soda saga download you just removed from your Windows? There is no that kind of odd things in any Linux distribution.

11. Runs on cheap or old hardware

You do not need brand new computer to use Linux. At its lightest, Linux only needs like 128mb RAM and almost zero GHz processor.

12. You can choose from many desktop environments

Well you can find these by just by using Google, maybe I’ll post later more details about DE’s and link it here. But here is a screenshot from Wikipedia



13. It will be probably easier than you think

Common thought would be that Linux is hard to use, well it’s not, you just have to get used to it. Start with something easy and very supported distribution like Ubuntu or Linux Mint.

14. Supports most programming languages

If you’re developer. You totally should consider Linux if you’re not using it already. You can put your skills to the test if you’d like.

15. Employers want you more on IT-Industry

Linux is a very desirable skill. Your employee will most likely respect you much more (on the IT-Industry) if you know how to use Linux.

16. You will learn something new everyday

True story, there’s no days when I don’t learn something. Except those that I’m not using my computer.

17. It will make you feel more confident about yourself

Of course, because you learn something all the time.

18. Linux is the future

You will see, just wait for it. Even more and more systems are using Linux, robots, supercomputers and so on.

19. The things you learn won’t expire

Unlikely on Windows, you don’t remember where to click next year when they have changed the buttons spot 😀

20. Very easy to install

You can boot it easily with USB stick or DVD. www.pendrivelinux.com

Most distributions have very detailed installation tutorials about installing Linux to your PC.

21. Fast to install

Most distributions are under 1 gigabyte, and very fast to install and update, should not take more than 1-2 hours on a very slow PC. A very good one of the reasons to use Linux.

22. You save significant amounts of money

One of the most important reasons to use Linux, you save money. Not just on software, also on hardware, you can buy a laptop and use it with windows like 2-3 years, with Linux, make it more like 10 years.

23. Lots of options on free software

Multimedia, radio broadcasting, server use, hacking and much more.

24. You are in control, one of the most important reasons to use Linux

You’re in control of your own system and you can see anything. You’re not dependent to get working softwares out of the box, fix them yourself if they don’t work as you wish, or if you can’t somebody from these awesome communities will probably do it.

25. Penguins are awesome.

Final words for reasons to use Linux

Thank you very much for reading this article to the end. If you are already a Linux user, nice, but if you use something else and still hesitate of using Linux, you did not read clearly enough! Comment below if you’d like to share your thoughts about reasons to use Linux. I’d also love to hear if you have suggestions to add something to this article, just comment below and if it seems good, I will totally add it to this list.

You should also check this article if you want to try Debian based distribution with GNOME desktop.