why linux ?

     People ask me why I use Linux, which leads them to the longest conversation, as they ponder why they had bothered to ask.

Thus this post, an alternative to them that are still confused.

Last year, I download I downloaded my first Linuxwhich is a DVD named mandriva linux from mandriva site, and I try it out. Installation was very easy as it checked the rpm of my hard disk and mine had been a little extensively used. I used it for a couple of days and finally choose it. That was the end.

Now to list the reasons why i prefer using Linux would be several. I’d give you a couple and the rest… well there is google.

My greatest fear in using MS Windows was the constant threat of a virus. I had to keep my anti virus software up-to-date. I do not like spending money on a particular software so I downloaded a free one. Sure it does the job pretty well, but there is always a clause. I have no anti virus software running in my Linux and have not faced a single threat from viruses since I’ve used Linux. One of the wierdest case would be the one in which a German company shipped windows pre-installed computers

with virus on them. [3]

I have no clue how much a MS Windows7 costs but I am sure it’d cost me a couple of 1000′s. Staying clear of pirated softwares

I wanted a solution. What do I do? Go to http://www2.mandriva.com and download the latest version of Mandriva. Bang, I have

one of the best OS in my computer. No costs at all and not pirated in any possible way. Linux is free and open source.

One thing about Windows XP was that I had limited choices of the way my desktop had to look. I couldn’t go further. Linux

offers more than 10 various desktop environments like KDE, Gnome, Enlightenment and many more. I can customize my Linux

Desktop to look like Windows XP or Vista or even a Mac OS X. Have  a look at my desktop:

3D Effects the best in Linux

People keep telling me installation of software in Linux is difficult. I would hardly call it difficult nowadays. If you use

Freespire then installation is as simple as clicking a button on firefox. That’s right you can install softwares straight

from you web browser. The method is called Click N Run (CNR). Other distributions have a software installed which allows you

to select any type of package and install it without asking tons of questions as to where to install so on and so forth.

People often ask me where Linux is being used. Well lets look at a few areas where Linux is used:

1. Disney/Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, Sony, ILM and other movie production studios from Hollywood are using Linux to produce

their movies. Dreamworks the maker of Shrek I, II and III have used roughly 3000 Linux servers and 1000 Linux workstations

for the movie. The Matrix, Titanic, Gladiator, Superman Returns, What Dreams May Come, Cats and Dogs, Shrek, The Perfect

Storm, Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Antz, Chicken Run, Deep Blue Sea, Star Trek: Insurrection, Fantasia 2000, Men

in Black, Hollow Man and many many more, were created with Linux. People still say Linux is no good at graphics. [1]

2. A survey is conducted every year to find out the top 500 super computers. For the past few years Linux has been the King

of it all, not by a mere margin. 427 out of 500 were running on Linux. [2]

3. Its the best ‘Nerds’ system. You have tons and tons of things you can do on Linux. Best compilers (all free), IDEs and a

lot of code to hack. It is the ultimate nerd machine.

4.A powerful language named C# also can run on linux based mono and monodevelop

I’ve had the ultimate fun and ease using Linux. Let me know how your experience was.

Well, you know what Windows is, the Linux Desktop does pretty much all the same stuff, it’s the same only different, it’s as

good only better, I guess that doesn’t help. If you’re only familiar with one computing environment, anything else will seem

quite alien and hence difficult to describe. To get us started, here are a few screen shots of the Linux Desktop in action,

please click on a thumbnail to take a look.

 

It may look completely different to Windows, but you will notice many of the same concepts. We have a mouse with a pointer,

we have a file manager, we have a media player, we have windows, we have icons we can embed on the desktop, we have menus, we

have different themes / wallpapers – it’s really not so different!

The list goes on… Check out a distribution of Linux today. Try
one of the distributions below:

Fedora

Ubuntu

OpenSUSE

Mandriva