Reasons I like Linux over Windows

[MAYBL8]

I would just like to say that I have been using LInux on my Home and Work computers for about 3 years. Outside of the obvious reasons for choosing LInux over Windows (freedom, Free as far as cost goes, etc) I would like to list some not so obvious reasons and will start off with this one.
I just bought a new HP Laptop. I had a previous HP Laptop but a completely different model.
I used Redo and Backup and made an image of the old Laptop.
I took that image and put it on the new Laptop.
With some minor tweaking like differnt names for network devices eno1 instead of eth3 and wlo1 instead of wlan1 I was up and running.
I even went from HD graphics card to a nvidia card with no problems.
You could no way do this with Windows. The video card alone would wreck the system.
Well that is my story for today.
Will enjoy hearing others.

[ilu]

Just what comes to mind:
- One-click security updates without reboot while working.
- Nearly every kind of software available and everything installed (and deiistalled) from just one source.
- Plugin my video camera and instant capture without installing or configuring any of those pesky Win drivers (this actually surprised me).

[belze]

you missed dmesg
we do not have a registry to fix!!!!

[Deleted User 2764]

In about 4 months I'll have been using Linux exclusively for 3 years. What I like about Linux is:

1. Easy rolling updates. No need to reinstall the OS if you want to upgrade to another version and still keep everything.
2. More secure.
3. Has everything I need in the repository.
4. GUI Desktop (I prefer KDE) is familiar, easy to use.
5. Debian based (at work we use Ubuntu servers, so things are familiar there as well).
6. Have you seen the mess M$ has made of Windows in the past couple years or so? Have you heard about the security/privacy issues surrounding Windows 10? That alone is enough to make someone (like me anyway) jump ship FAST!!

I'll never want to touch Windows again. For what? What won't run on Linux now either I don't really want/need or I don't use anyway. I could find a way to get Hulu and Amazon Video working using a downloaded version of HAL I'm told. I might investigate those prospects later.

And some stuff also runs in WINE/Play On Linux anyway.

Linux works.

[Deleted User 2763]

I like the "one stop shopping" with Debian (and Ubuntu).
-H

[SolydForEver]

The Freedom to do with your computer as you wish, not do what MS tells you to do with it.
Not fill the hard disk with anti-virus software, spyware software, malware software, no only those programs you want to use.
Installing updates when it suits you, not when it suits Big Brother

I had Win7 in double boot on my laptop since I sometimes work from home and unfortunately the programs I then have to use are not available in Linux. I did the upgrade(?) to 10. Amazingly after about 1 hour it was working, with all installed programs in tact. Very well done, can't say it any other way. But then the horror of trying to close the laptop for the outside world, this took me several hours. I read several websites showing information what to do, what to shut-off, what to change in the registry, etc. Hope I managed it. Don't use the laptop much, and if so it is only for work so no private things there.

[Nuke]

I won't go into the ethical reasons for not using MS stuff, but the practical reasons.

My wife's laptop has Windows 7 and I use and maintain it occasionally. I find it infuriating, with repeated nagging ("There are unused icons on your desktop", "Your AV needs updating", "This that and the other need updating"), and I don't have a clue whether if I agree to these nags that they won't go and install some malware and/or take money from my credit card, the number of which they have somehow got hold of (by spyware from previous transactions? who knows?). I just feel uneasy the whole time. I just cannot understand how or why people put up with it.

It seems that most people feel that Windows is the "official" operating system for PCs and it will invalidate the guarantee and cause danger if you do not use it. The guarantee thing might be a valid point for people who do not know what to do when things go wrong (actually they do - toss it away and buy a new one). The "danger" is a paradox though - Windows is far more dangerous as far as malware is concerned.

Here is the latest MS outrage - forcing Windows 10 down your throat :

http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... 8-systems/

The motive for MS doing this can surely only be as a vehicle even more tuned to serving marketing software - what other reason could they have? I gather that the Windows 10 has adverts on the start-up and lock screens already :-

http://www.infoworld.com/article/293199 ... level.html

[wildman]

I occasionally read a couple of the Windows newsgroups and there has been a lot of discussion lately regarding Win 10 and the push to upgrade every Window 7/8.x computer. Here are a few of the topics:

• 1] Privacy (spyware and keylogger collecting what MS calls "telemetry" - new word for data mining)
  2] Adware (the Start Menu will display "smart suggestions" for software you might like, based on your usage)
  3] EULA and Privacy Agreement (they are retroactive to include Win 7/8.x - watch those updates)
  4] Change of market category (it is no longer a product, it is now a service - you never own it or your computer)

i think that pretty well sums up the main reasons. And they are right from the mouth, I mean keyboard of the Win users and a couple of MS MVP's.

[Zill]

... Change of market category (it is no longer a product, it is now a service - you never own it or your computer)

Has this really changed?

AIUI, only Microsoft ever "owned" Windows and its programs. Users were only able to buy a licence to run Microsoft's software but they never actually owned the software. The perils of closed-source, proprietary software!

Having said that, I don't think Microsoft's new EULA would actually stop you owning a computer!

Caveat: I haven't been near any Microsoft products for nearly ten years now.

[ilu]

You are right about the licence - you can never own software (you owned the CD it came on!) - but that is still something very different from a service. The difference is hard to explain and details depend on whats in the EULA - while a license is something fairly standard, a service can be anything. Wthout reading the EULA (who does that anyway?) I'm sure the regulations will not favor the customer. It's a step towards more control for Microsoft and it doesn't really help that you still own the hardware if you can't control your data on it.
That's the core problem of todays information technology: your data is constantly under attack through illegal malware (viruses) and legal malware (services). And it's much easier to protect yourself against the illegal threats. Legal malware services (everything from MS, Apple, Google, Facebook ...) are the hardest to fight and using Linux is only a first step.

[wildman]

... Change of market category (it is no longer a product, it is now a service - you never own it or your computer)

Has this really changed?

AIUI, only Microsoft ever "owned" Windows and its programs. Users were only able to buy a licence to run Microsoft's software but they never actually owned the software. The perils of closed-source, proprietary software!

Having said that, I don't think Microsoft's new EULA would actually stop you owning a computer!

OK, I was using a little hyperbole. Of course you own your computer. However, with each new version of Windows your control of your computer has become less and less.

[Zill]

... However, with each new version of Windows your control of your computer has become less and less.

Not mine!

[wildman]

Forbes has an interesting article about Windows 10's spying and the fact that it can't be stopped.
http://tinyurl.com/nuf7j6l

Speaking to PC World, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Joe Belfiore
explained that Windows 10 is constantly tracking how it operates and how
you are using it and sending that information back to Microsoft by
default. More importantly he also confirmed that, despite offering some
options to turn elements of tracking off, core data collection simply
cannot be stopped.

Nothing else need be said.

[kurotsugi]

the trend indeed shows that it might becomes a service. the cloud thingy would make the concept easy to imagine. you have a computer + internet connection + acces to cloud server. your computer only "tell the cloud what to do" everything else will be done in the cloud server. it would be an interesting concept if we can access the 'server' from any kind of system but knowing the current microsoft it would be take a long way to get there. even for google, we need a 'google' device to access several services. in the age when 'device sale' is still on the main business we might never see this concept got fully implemented. not even once.

[patzy]

I think MS may be expecting to charge for their 'service' in the near future.
Probably a yearly subscription with 'free' updates that take more and more control of your machine.

I can just imagine it "Pay your subscription or your system stops working." With an extra late fee when you find everything gone.