The leo-sa blog

Recently, a friend of mine asked me why I used linux. Being a linux user for more than 5 years, I have a lot of reasons on why to choose linux over windows, but nothing came to my mind at the time. I just knew I like it a lot better than windows. To settle things up, and have a more objective answer next time, I put some thought to it and came with this list.

In this post, I will evaluate all the reasons regarding the current distribution I use, which is Ubuntu. However, by no means I say that everyone should use linux. You may use it as long as it fits your needs, and i’m aware that many people cannot live without applications that were developed only for windows.

10. Package management system

In windows, one have to dig around the internet trying to find applications to install, and pray that they won’t come full of viruses. In linux, there is a wonderful thing called packages, and a neat little program called Synaptic where it is possible to just type whatever application you want and it will automatically download and install, all of that without any virus and 100% free.

9. Graphical interface

Yes, with vista, windows can now do a lot of stuff linux can. But one would have to install a ton of additional software. I got so addicted to the exposé, multiple desktops, and being able to make a window translucent that I miss these features a lot when I go back to windows. Also, the application menu of gnome is terrific when new installed applications automatically appear under the right category, making it easier to find the desired program.

The top bar is also a plus. Right now, I have a in-bar weather and CPU usage applet that come in handy. Although you can put them on the desktop on windows, I’m not sure you can put them on the bar without any external program.

8. Hardware Detection

This is one of the best features on linux, and can also be the worse. After installation is done, or wheter you plug in a new hardware, everything is detected and installed automatically. No hunt for drivers is needed. I just installed Ubuntu on a friend’s laptop and we didn’t need any extra configuration to get things working. Everything worked out of the box.

However, I have to admit that when something is not detected right away, it is a pain to set up properly. Most of the times, one would have to dig through several forums in order to figure out how to install a particular piece of hardware.

7. Process control

Linux is stable by nature, but sometimes things may go out of control. When that happens, a little tool called “xkill” comes in handy by literally killing the troublesome application instantly without messing up with system stability. Also, the “kill” command does the same thing for every process in the system. Unlike windows, you don’t have to wait for the process to shut itself down, and therefore waste a lot of time. The process is killed instantly.

Another tool I miss in windows is the sysrq+s sysrq+u sysrq+b key combination. No matter where you are on linux, if you press that sequence, it will automatically unmount partitions and reboot the system. I have lost count on how many times I had to press the reset button on windows in order to get the machine rebooted because it wasn’t responding to any of my commands.

6. The terminal

Not many regular users would use it, but the terminal is a powerfull tool for power users. You can do anything you want with it, and most of the linux commands can be piped together to form more complex statements. I have lots of custom scripts that I use regularly to automate boring tasks such as renaming pictures, mounting encrypted filesystems, and even checking out code from a repository and deploy it automatically to a server.

5. Low system overhead

Vista needs at least 1GB of RAM in order to function properly. I used to run Ubuntu with full graphical interface with 512mb without a problem. The footprint of ubuntu over vista is considerably lower, giving more room to load more applications at one time. This is particularly useful when working with older hardware or thin clients.

4. System security

Vista introduced a series of annoying boxes that are prompted whenever you are about to make any system changes. I found that particularly annoying, and love the fact that linux only asks for the root password for very specific system settings.

Due to the open source nature of linux and its software community, security bugs are identified and fixed a lot quicker than in propietary software, making the system considerably more secure.

3. No viruses or trojan horses

The only real menace I know for linux are the rootkits, and even those need to exploit some bug. However, chances are that the particular bug in question was already fixed by security updates.

Although not really necessary if you aren’t running a server, a firewall is a plus in terms of increasing the security of your system. Nothing I know in windows can beat a well configured iptables, and few things can be more annoying than those security pop ups that appear in vista when some program wants to access the internet.

Finally, there is no need to waste your resources having an antivirus running all the time. Linux was built to be safe, so you can be sure that you won’t need any additional software constantly scanning for threats.

2. Fast release time

Thats particularly true with ubuntu: there is a new version comming around every 6 months with new and improved features. This beats by far the release cycle of windows, that can be as long as 2 or 3 years. Another good point is that your oppinion matters. If you find something wrong with your system, you can file a bug on launchpad, and that will go directly to the developers of the system.

1. It’s free

This is a cliché, but it doesn’t mean it is not a good thing. I’m a cheap person, and I really like the fact that I can upgrade all my computers every six months to a state-of-art operational system without spending a penny out of my pocket.