Do you like Linux? (If so. Why?)

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I like Ubuntu, Which i have made to look like MacOS

I use Ubuntu and linux mint, but i have fedora installed too
I like it because it's open and i can see a future in it
I like the appearance on GNOME
It's fun to use
I just like using it, because there isn't so much trouble when updating etc.

But i mainly use windoze 7 because i have alot of games :S (yes i know there is WINE, but it dosen't always work)

I like Linux, but I also like Windows.

I currently have Arch Linux with Openbox window manager (very lightweight) installed on my laptop dual booted with Windows XP. On my PC with better specs I have openSUSE (it's awesome, try it) with KDE 4.6 (not exactly lightweight, but my PC isn't a piece of trash like my laptop) dual booted with Windows 7.

I like the freedom Linux gives, and the freedom to tweak easily without having to mess up your registry files. I also like that most Linux distros are light weight, thus I can multitask a lot without slowing anything down or making something crash, even on my crappy laptop.
The fact that it's free is also a huge plus, even though I am a pirate by heart.

What I don't like about Linux is the limitations it gives when choosing software. Don't misunderstand me; Linux got a lot of great software, but it still miss a lot of the software you can get on Windows and/or OS X. I can't put the blame on Linux though. People are money hungry and not enough people use Linux, and the ones who do use different distros which can turn out to run quite differently, thus not software needs to be engineered slightly differently for different distros. Thus the marked is sadly not big enough to make any noticeable profit from targeting Linux.
Though WIne runs a lot of Windows software with great performance, not everything works as it should (or doesn't work at all).

*UNIX or Linux is the only way for me to go. I use Ubuntu for web designs, but recently got hooked on a minimal FreeBSD install with no windowing system. I set up a gateway with NAT ...that was a fun learning experience!

Free, but don't get me wrong! At my last employer, I worked to upgrade them to SCO. I got it at a CHEAP price, and it was STILL nearly $500! I paid HUNDREDS for UNIX like O/S!

Stable! But don't get me wrong, CP/M and DOS are!

POSIX compatible! ok, this IS FAIRLY unique!

UNIX Compatible!

Multitasking!

Remote access!

NETWORKED! UNIX supported this almost 15 years before M/S did!

Follows STANDARDS! Microsoft RARELY follows standards. HECK, they can't even follow their own!

I've been using Ubuntu (GNOME) since 8.04 and I am currently using 10.10. However, since I am using older hardware which slows down with KDE so it would have difficulty with Unity or GNOME3 (and also I am not a "bells and whistle" kind of guy), I have recently switched desktop environments from GNOME (as GNOME 2.32 will no longer be supported) to the more "lightweight" XFCE and LXDE. Part of this is to get my wife and kids familiar with the new desktop environment before I upgrade to a newer version of Xubuntu or Lubuntu (I can always add the other desktop environment if I need to),

At this point I am preferring the layout of XFCE but I am going to play around with customizing LXDE on my system this weekend.

Any preferences out there on the desktop environments?

Unix is the network.

I like linux because it is free and mosr web servers run on linux. I run my own server. It gives me the opertunity to learn somthing new for free without worrying about breaking the OS. You also get a free C, C++ compiler (gcc, well gcc tecknily directs the program to be compiled by a seperate compiler...but anyway, there are compilers installed for C and C++). You can easily install the libaries for Ruby, Paskal and other computer luangages. The bash shell alows you to interact easly with the computer and task automation is easier and you don't have to pay to upgrade all your software every time a new distrois released.

James

+It's free
+It's challenging
+It's not mainstream
+It looks sexy
+It takes a lot of work, depending on which distro you pick
+It supports a lot more of everything than Windows does
+People think I'm smarter than I really am when I say I use it XD
+It's helped me learn a lot about the way computers work

I've used:
+Ubuntu
+Fedora
+Debian
+OpenSUSE
+Mandriva
+Gentoo!
+Slackware
+Mint, which is my current main distro

Right now, my main computer is dual-booting Mint 11 and Windows 7 with Mint as the main OS. I have another computer running Windows XP that my mom uses, and an old secondhand PC with Slackware. I too have customized my Mint install to look like Mac OS X, which I have actually never used before as it is too expensive. It's actually pretty convincing, too!

I've also used Solaris and BSD systems in the past.

I've used all of these except Mandriva. I've been vaguely considering giving Mandriva (or Mageia as it's now called) a shot. What is your opinion of it? If it helps, I am ambivalent toward Fedora, despise OpenSUSE, like Debian, and until 11.04 liked Ubuntu.

At first it's like, what the ****, how does this work.

Then you discover the shell

Then you discover the power of the shell

Then you discover the ease of modification, how easy it is to get things to simply "work" (assuming debian)

Then you get curious about other distros

Then you discover Gentoo

You curse and curse, and then, it works, and boy is it FAST.

Then you suddenly are forced to work on a windows pc at work/school, CTRL+ALT+T doesn't open a terminal. Starting apps takes nearly an eternity. Four apps, and the pc nearly grinds to a halt.

You pine for the linux box.

You beg to be allowed to work on your linux box

And suddenly you realize, you don't need alcohol or drugs. You're addicted to something much better

You've got Linux, and you love it

Gak! I'm totally in agreement with you. What possessed them to go from a perfectly accessible Gnome front-end to a childish "unity" obscurity. At least they left then option to go for "Ubuntu Classic" - through I'm worrying about how long that will remain an option.

One aspect of that decision is that fact that GNOME itself left behind the acceptable interface for radical and unwanted changes. Canonical decided they would rather ship their own steaming pile of crap than someone else's. "Ubuntu Classic" will probably be gone by 11.10 or 12.04 at the latest.

I like GNU/Linux because it's free, both as in free speech and as in free beer.
It's stable, at least much more than Windows on my hardware.
It's customisable and very powerful. When working on Windows at the university, I usually miss the shell, having more than one desktop, and having all software I need in a repo so it can be installed with one or two mouse clicks (not that I would be allowed to install software on the lab computers, anyway).
Also it's better for privacy – strong encryption, better access control, less traces left on your HD during normal use.
As a bonus, very few people will ask to use your computer after they know you're running it.

Unfortunately the latest Ubuntu release is making me reconsider Windows.
Someone before mentioned Windows becoming all but unusable after opening four apps. Well, that happens to me on Ubuntu, particularly if one of those apps is Flash.
Also common programs (e.g. web browsers), while perhaps launching quicker on GNU/Linux, usually seem to run faster on Windows on my hardware.

That's been bugging me for a while. But I don't want to leave the things I've come to take for granted under GNU/Linux, either.

Why take such drastic measures? If you don't like the new Ubuntu interface, or simply the fact Ubuntu can be very unstable, switch to Debian on which ubuntu is based. Although you often use somewhat older versions of applications, the upside is that it is widely regarded as one of the, if not the, most stable GNU/Linux there is. This is because Debian doesn't just put new packages into their stable branch without thoroughly testing the stability whereas Ubuntu is known for using only the packages from Debian's Unstable branch which makes it prone to errors and crashes.

I don't like using older versions of apps when I'm waiting for a bug to be fixed. And I don't like compiling either – otherwise I would have moved to Gentoo a long time ago.
You mentioned that Debian has a reputation for being stable, and I guess you meant crash-resistant.
What about CPU and memory usage? My hardware is somewhat old. Will I get away with running Flash Player, Java, and some other graphical apps under Debian unlike under Ubuntu?