i have always wonder, what is so special about linux?
why do people have linux? rather than windows or mac?
is it recommended that noobs like me have an linux os?

every linux fan will tell you
-because linux is free
-because linux is better then windows ...
Some windows fans don't know why they use windows ... (i don't )
Most windows fanatics will tell you that the overall cost of maintaining a linux server (or whatever) is bigger than a windows machine because of the complexity of the applications

What you should use... i guess you should use what you like (or what you can afford).. it's a known fact that every thing you can do on windows , you can on linux too, and it's free (most of the software)..
it's hard to say which one is better .. all of them are good in their own way ... (ya , except vista)
(never tried any mac versions ... not for me)

As everybody will tell you, it depends from what you want to do.
If you are building your own compurer from scratch and if you just want a computer with en Ethernet cable in order to surf the Internet, and if you like Firefox as a browser, you could imagine wanting to save some money and use a free Linux distro as operating system, instead of buying Microsoft Windows.
However, if you bought a ready-for-use computer with Microsoft Windows already installed, there is no real need to switch to Linux.

I put Linux on my mother's computer. She hasn't used Windows and therefore doesn't complain about the system being different from something else she's used to. She would probably feel a bit lost on Windows if anything... actually, come to think of it, she'd probably adapt fairly well now. She mainly used "Gimp" in Linux to paint pictures (it's a free program similar to Photoshop but not quite as cutting edge)


Linux versus Windows:
Have you seen the other thread asking what made people change to Linux? There are heaps of reasons for it. I made the switch when my Windows computer needed to be serviced and I installed Linux on a very cheap old machine just to do typing... I accidently left it on a whole week and was surprised that the machine hadn't frozen or even slowed down in that time; it was just as I left it, something I'd learned that Windows (of the day) would never do. Once I found it was Open Source which meant I could make as many copies of it, put it on any machine I wanted, customise it how I liked, give it away or even on-sell it etc etc and all for free and perfectly legal... I was hooked.
I am a teacher by the way... I have often been put in charge of computers in my school. I bought twelve computers and put Linux on all of them. In three years or so, the students did not get bored. They learned to make their own games levels in Sauerbraten. They got do do 3D animations in Blender. These are BIG programs. I got someone to help me network the computers so all the student saved work went to one machine. He liked the fact that I was trying out Linux in school and didn't even charge. Once the network was going, I had very few problems. Like I found with the first computer I installed it on, Linux is very very stable.
Funny thing though: My students underwent computer exams which rated them against others in my country, New Zealand. Many were in the top 10% of the country. One student was in the top 1%. I found this odd because I had dreaded the test because the questions were based around Windows and Mac questions. I think they did so well partly because they learned adaptive thinking by being exposed to Linux at school whereas many already had other OS at home.

Linux versus Mac:
Mainly the price. Mac and Linux are more similar than Windows and Linux.


Only one true way to find that out Good luck,

Linux lets you learn a lot about computing if you want to do that. Windows doesn't let you do that much. Yes, you will still learn about computing, but IMHO, you'll learn about computers a lot faster and a lot more efficient if you learn it through Linux. Linux is an opensourced operating system, you can feel free to peruse its source codes, makes changes and etc. There are so many "flavours" of Linux. Some are for the tech savvy, and others like Ubuntu are designed with ease-of-use being its primary agenda. There are even Linux distributions designed with both tech savvy and ease-of-use as its agenda like SuSE Linux (aka openSUSE). It really depends on what you want to do with your computer.

I recommend Linux for day-to-day applications. However, obviously, Windows have more software. Best of all, Linux is free same with FreeBSD, which is another UNIX-based operating system which is free.

xboxrulz

I see using linux as a challenge, it's not as easy as windows but when you spend some time with it, it realy works well. I've been using openSuse 11 on my laptop for a few months now and I realy like it (it had Vista on it). It just feels more responsive most of the time, but I wouldn't say that it's faster everytime. Stability isn't as perfect as most people say, gnome sometimes completely hangs so I have to kill it (ctrl-alt-return), but at least it only has to restart gnome instead of completely rebooting (okay, I can't go to standby after gnome crashing ).

You also don't have to miss all the great applications you use on windows, wine is a great emulator and if that doesn't work you can still use Virtualbox OSE. Virtualbox is something like Vmware of virtualpc, but has a great seamless mode that hides the guest's windows desktop and makes it click-through so you have your virtualised applications on your linux desktop as if they where running in linux (instead virtualised in windows).

I barely skimmed the responses so far, so might double up information, but frankly this is the type of topic I think differing viewpoints from differing sources can be helpful, so read on if interested

Windows does everything a newbie to computers needs. Thats a statement that many linux diehards would kill me for saying but it's true. You can email, net surf, text process, and play games on a windows PC without any problems. It makes sense to not understand why people would choose to go with the less popular OS, and frankly for a lot of people it doesn't necessarily make sense to switch.

Anyone wanting to learn more about computers, or who just likes toying around with computers, is what linux is made for. It is becoming more and more user friendly so closer and closer to being acceptable as a mainstream alternative to windows but I still feel for people with little or no computer knowledge it still isn't the best choice. There are a lot of things linux lovers say is 'very simple' now that can easily still lead to complications that are above and beyond the skill of a computer illiterate. Sure you'll learn a lot more figuring out these problems BUT many people don't care enough to figure out the problems.

But why TO use linux? Beyond learning tons more about your computer, computers in general, etc, there is the fact that it is open source. Free is always a great price for a product The tons of open source software allow all that same basic computing needs to be fulfilled without a single cent spent on software which is a nice idea.

Another great feature is the customization. Between picking a linux that fits your desires to the customization of the interface or the choice of a different visual environment there is just a level of customization that is not available elsewhere. If you are willing to put the time into it you can make your desktop feel much more like 'your' desktop rather then 'a' desktop that you use.

Frankly, linux is fun. If you enjoy computers for the less mainstream stuff then you'll enjoy linux. From installing it, to setting it up, customizing it, and tinkering with all the settings and controls you now have access to you'll simply enjoy the time spent even when it's not doing exactly what you want. When windows breaks you scream at it and hope it fixes itself as it doesn't give much power to fix it yourself. When linux breaks you smile to yourself and start seeking the solution

Why do I use Linux (Ubuntu 7.10, to be precise)? I was first interested in installing it because I deal with a lot of web development, and *nix systems are a better platform for Apache - obviously, I wanted a server on my local machine. But it turned to be much better than Windows XP in many ways.

First of all - speed. Windows XP takes some time to load, even after everything on the desktop is displayed. In Linux, however, the loading times are shorter, and you can use it as soon as you see your icons. I am not the type of guy who has a lot of time on his hands... OK, I do have, but that doesn't mean I like to wait Linux stays fast after being on for some time, as well. If my memory serves me well, it worked for 48 hours without slowing down, and I'm sure it could have done more.

Next - security. A huge portion of Windows users is constantly having problems with viruses, spyware, malware etc. It is rather easy to protect yourself, but only if you know what to do. I consider myself an advanced user, but yet again I end up with a virus every few months or so. With Linux, I don't really have to worry about that. There is a small number of viruses for Linux, and when you use a non-superuser account, you are invulnerable. Windows: 2 to 3 security programs; Linux: none.

Finally - stability. Windows is known to crash a lot, and sometimes nothing other can help but a full reinstall. Linux also crashes, but rarely, and it can usually be fixed through the terminal. What's more, Windows couldn't handle me changing some hardware... Actually, everything Motherboard, CPU, memory and the graphics card. Guess what? Reinstall... Linux? Just one line in the terminal, and I got my GUI back

However, Windows does have it's advantages, the most important of them being the number of programs (and games ) available. My default OS is Ubuntu, but from time to time I have to switch to Windows - sometimes because of Photoshop, and sometime because I just need a normal 3D game to relax

Truth be told, practically every Windows program has a Linux alternative, it's all about getting used to it. And about wether you are willing to save $100

I'm pretty certain they got Photoshop working in WINE not too long ago. They were calling it a "holy grail" as many professional designers justified not using Linux solely on whether or not would run the Photoshop application.

Kind of a bizarre twist is that when I was a student in Media Design (3D animation) the tutors encouraged students to commercial pirate software on the grounds that we could not afford it now, and our work would more than pay for it one day etc... I resented this. I used Linux etc because I didn't have my conscience bothering me every time I ran my programs. Then, in another lecture, a certain tutor started talking against Linux saying that "Adobe have said they will never make a Linux version of Linux... you might wanna consider that when you think about which Operating System you'd be installing". I did a quick search on the internet and found there was more to it than that. He missed their reason. Adobe didn't want to spend up on making a Linux version due to their perceived likelihood that it would only get pirated.

...then of course they cautioned me for using Open Source Blender instead of [pirated] Maya for my 3D animations. Odd irony that I knew I'd never make them see.

So, yeah: another reason. I like Linux because it is legal.

The reasons people use GNU/Linux are as many as there are distros of it. Some want the power, others want ease of use(yes some aspects are easier to use more later ), others want security.

As we all know *nix can be customized to how ever you want, and this is what most power users want, to be able to do. Make their P.C. do something it normally wouldn't do(Like cook toast[google netbsd toaster]).

As i said some people want the ease of use part. The parts of *nix that are easier then windows would be installing software, I pick a decent package manager over msi files any day. Then there is Virtual Desktops(granted there is something like it for windows), which if you have never used Virtual Desktops you have been missing out. Finally on ease of use would be system upgrades, on MOST, most being the keyword, have one line command upgrades to a new version and which will also install new version of all the software you have installed(granted it was with the package manager).

Now the security part tends to be misleading as *nix is not "crack proof/virus proof/* proof" by default, and it never will be just like any other OS out there. But it does have good measures to keep viruses and malware from infecting the whole computer which is via file permissions(this is why you never log in as root)

Those are the 3 most common reasons people run GNU/Linux. Me, myself tends to fall in the power user group, even when I am on windows it is HIGHLY modified (ie running emerge desktop shell with a Directory Opus tool bar at the top).

By all means GNU/Linux is NOT for every one, I recommend people at least try a LiveCD for a week or so, like in their spare time just boot it up and get used to it. Fedora, OpenSUSE, Gentoo, ubuntu and MANY others have LiveCDs available for download.