Why does everyone love Linux so much?
Why does everyone love Linux so much?
The biggest thing for me is updates. On a Windows machine you run Windows update, but then when you launch a piece of software you get that annoying popup "newer version available, let us take you to our website to download a file again", click 'next, next, next, install' and then you can finally use the software. In Linux when you run the updater in the operating system, you're also updating all of your software. With one terminal command I can refresh all of my repos and download every update available for every piece of software on the machine, and that's really nice. That's really the most important end-user feature for me that pushed me to use Linux full time, but there's other stuff as well. Obviously it's more secure, most of the software is open source so you know it's not collecting data in the background, it's more customizable, there are a lot of options for desktop environments so you can use a completely different UI, installing software is nicer if you're comfortable doing it from the command line, you can use the powerful tools that server administrators use for your everyday desktop such as scheduling any operation or command you want to run at whatever interval you want, and many more. Most importantly, and a lot of Windows and Mac users don't really understand what I mean when I say this, but sometimes using the terminal things is easier than using the GUI tools. Like I said, installing software is easier on the command line, and it is. Say you're on Windows and you want to install Hexchat (an IRC client), you google it, go to their website, you download their installer, you navigate to your download folder, you double click it, you hit 'next, next, next, install' and then you hit finish, it's installed. On Linux, (specifically Ubuntu or Debian because the command is different depending on which distribution you're using) you would open your terminal and type 'sudo apt update && sudo apt install hexchat -y' and you would type in your password. That's it, it's installed. Yes, you have to know that command and type it in, but it's so much faster and easier . People get this notion that Linux is hard but it really depends on what you're doing and if you're willing to learn a little bit. There's also the fact that you can actually troubleshoot and fix things in the OS itself instead of relying on tools or developer support. There's nothing quite as aggravating and sitting down at somebody's computer who's having an issue and has asked you for help just to come to the conclusion that it's a closed source application sitting on Windows and there's no way for you to figure out exactly what the problem is so you google for some sort of repair tool. Program won't start under Linux you try launching it from the terminal and see what error it spits out. Most of the time it's an out of date library or a file isn't in the right directory, which you can fix from right there in the command line with only tools built directly into the operating system. You don't have to stand up, defeated, and say "I'm not sure, it's not giving me an error and it's a Microsoft product so there's no way for me to get more information", you just fucking fix it. For me, it's really uncomfortable whenever I have to sit down at a Windows machine and get something done because I find Linux so much better. It's absolutely a personal decision and there are a lot of people that I would never recommend Linux to, but if you're the kind of person who wants to know how things work or wants more control over your system, you'll have a hell of time with Linux. It also depends on what software you use. If you're a gamer and the only games you play don't have Linux support, obviously it's not for you. If you use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and aren't willing to try available alternatives like Inkscape and Gimp, Linux isn't for you either. It's very dependent on the person and their needs, but if it checks all of the boxes for you, I think it's worth learning, it's a lot of fun.
It offers enhanced security with a low virus count on Linux. It performs better than Windows and doesn’t require reinstallation. It remains stable over time without slowing down. If your Windows system was left running, performance would degrade gradually, unlike Linux which stays consistent. You can run it continuously without shutdowns and maintain speed similar to the original installation. Windows may become sluggish after months of inactivity, whereas Linux handles long periods better. The filesystem is more efficient, avoiding fragmentation issues common in Windows. Unlike Windows, Linux doesn’t rely on registry changes for program management, which prevents performance drops from deleted files. Daily use can last up to two years before needing a fresh setup, though it will be noticeably slower compared to a brand-new install.
This situation is somewhat accurate, but explaining every distribution in detail would be quite challenging. A basic question like "how do I update my Linux system from the command line?" often leads to a series of steps specific to each distro. For example, on Debian/Ubuntu you’d run `sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade`, while on Arch you’d use `sudo pacman -Syy` and then `sudo pacman -Syu`. Fedora follows a similar pattern with `dnf update openSUSE`. On Slackware or other obscure systems, things can get even more confusing. To avoid confusion, it’s helpful to be general when seeking help. If you post on an Ubuntu forum saying something like "I’m using Ubuntu XX.XX and I’m stuck," the responses will usually be straightforward, but when dealing with advanced settings, it becomes much harder to provide consistent support. This lack of uniformity is both a limitation and a key advantage for many users.