So, Before I had used Linux I always wondered why people who use Linux go for the hard things when Windows is so simple. But just to give it a try I tried installing Linux Mint 16 (Petra) on dual boot. But the partitioning went wrong and I lost everything; distressed I just installed Mint. And I have been using it for about 8 months and now I don’t even miss Windows 7. So, today I will be discussing the things I love about Linux Mint and why I ditched Windows 7 over Linux Mint.

The awesome GUI desktop environment: The Cinnamon Desktop Environment resembles a lot to Windows, so you don’t feel like an stranger when using Mint. I has got the same Desktop with a start menu which is way more beautiful and handy the the Windows also I love the fact that they have give the search bar at the top so you don’t have to drag your mouse at the bottom each time. Also all the apps are categorised according to their functionality which makes your searching a lot easier.

The task bar is quite thin which is remarkable gives you some more space on desktop! Now talking about the File Browser. I just Love it! Nemo simply has a lot to offer than the Windows File Explorer. Believe me if you are a Programmer you are gonna love its features.On the right corner you have the File viewing options searching options. At the top Middle you can view your absolute path or relative path. Then you have the Desktop and Home icons. At the leftmost top the Navigation Buttons including the ‘Go to parent folder’ option.

At the left of the file browser their are the Quick links (Very useful). Also you can view it in a Tree view or Hide the Left side panel. At the bottom bar various information, Meta data or File attributes are displayed.is displayed. You can zoom in or out of the view.Now talking about the right click file menu. It has got a lots of useful options and the most I like are the ‘Open in Terminal’ and ‘Open as root’. The open in terminal feature save your cd command and lots of pain and the Open as root saves your sudo command. So, you don’t actually have to use commands using Linux. Lots of things can be done in the UI only. Security: Linux is known for its security and privacy. You can set privacy options or File permissions so, other users cant access your files. Linux Mint has a nice UI for it too. Looks kind of amazing. When ever your try to access or change some important settings your desktop freezes and the password box pops up. If you are trying to access an unauthorized file the it will display you the exception. In Linux also you might know that there is no virus cause transmits only through executable files. So, no worry of installing any kind of antivirus. Pretty secure huh.. Notifications: Linux notifies Mint you about everything a little notification pops up at the left most corner with disturbing your current operation. You can receive important notifications like email, battery, Bluetooth, network and even songs etc. The other mind blowing thing is the small music player and the task-bar. Whenever you open and music app the sound notifier immediately changes to a small music player. Helping you to access your music easily. Applications: The Updates application is not complex at all as it is in Windows 7. There are priority levels for upgrades and description given. Also all your installed softwares too get updated from here only. So, you don’t have to individually go to every software and then check for its updates. The Software store is also great. Windows 7 does not even have a chance to stand here cause it does not have a software store. Plus, everything is categorised and free on the Mint Store. There is also Libreoffice similar to Microsoft Office and it does the job good although Microsoft Office has more features than it (but only if you need them). The Settings are neatly categorised and easy to understand which does not happen to Windows and its Control Panel is quite confusing. The other software worth mentioning are Thunderbird, Tomboy notes, Clementine, Sublime and a lots of others better than the paid softwares. Workspace: This one feature completely distinguishes Linux from Windows. In Linux you can open several desktop sessions or Workspaces and work simultaneously without disturbing other session. Switching between workspaces is also beautiful you just have to hover over the corners of the desktop or Hotspots. File system and Multiuser: This is the main reason why I switched to Linux. In windows you cannot have multiple users accounts with different privilege levels. Also the File system of Linux is hierarchical. That means in a quite few minutes a complete map of your file system is set in to your mind so, you don’t find yourself lost. Though I wouldn’t be talking here much about the Files system a lot now.

So, been around 8 months and I don’t think I will be again moving to Windows OS any time soon. If you can get things for free, then why pay ? Download Linux Mint.

To view more indepth features of Linux Mint visit here.