We tell people we use Linux because it’s secure. Or because it’s free, because it’s customizable, because it’s free (the other meaning), because it has excellent community support…
But all of that is just marketing bullshit. We tell that to non-Linuxers because they wouldn’t understand the real reason. And when we say those false reasons enough, we might even start to believe them ourselves.
But deep underneath, the real reason remains.
We use Linux because it’s fun!
It’s fun to tinker with your system. It’s fun to change all the settings, break the system, then have to go to recovery mode to repair it. It’s fun to have over a hundred distros to choose from. It’s fun to use the command line.
Let me say that again. It’s fun to use the command line.
No wonder non-Linuxers wouldn’t understand.
The point with us Linux fans is – we use Linux for its own sake. Sure, we like to get work done. Sure, we like to be secure from viruses. Sure, we like to save money. But those are only the side-effects. What we really like is playing with the system, poking around, and discovering completely pointless yet fascinating facts about the OS.
There are three main reasons Linux is so much fun:
1. Linux gives you complete control
Ever tried stopping a process in Windows and the OS wouldn’t let you? Ever tried deleting a file – and you couldn’t? Even though you had admin rights?
Linux lets you do anything. That’s the great benefit of usually logging in as user. If you login as the root, the OS assumes you know what you’re doing. Once you become root, everything is allowed.
2. Linux isn’t widely used
This is a paradox. We often complain Linux isn’t more widely used. But that’s one of the reasons we use it. It gives us a feeling of being a special clique. Like we’re better than “those ignorant masses”.
If Linux becomes widely used, we’ll probably switch to something else. Or at least develop an obscure distro that only we will use. Because, let’s face it, we want to feel special.
3. Linux is free (as-in-speech)
We can get the source code for all our applications. If we want to know how a certain part of the OS works, we can. This lets us tweak and play with our systems. And we absolutely loo-o-o-ve tweaking our system.
Of course we can’t tell non-Linuxers we use Linux because it’s fun – they’d stick us into a mental asylum quicker than you can say “antidisestablishmentarianism”. So we’ll keep telling them the false yet plausible reasons for using Linux. But deep inside, we’ll know the real reason we use Linux.
And maybe, just maybe, next time someone asks me why I use Linux, I’ll flash a huge smile and answer: “Because using Linux is FUN!”
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Fun? FUN? What recovering the system etc? You people are lucky to have such time to waste. I just want this effing computer to work – first time every time – that’s enough isn’t it?
Yup, … some of us ultimate Linux geeks use a LFS type distro (I use Gentoo) so they can sit around and watch the system compiling … then we wait a couple days … update the system sources and watch the system compiling.
Emerging beats the stuff on TV.
Bash scripts !!! … try that on Windows.
It’s “fun” in the way that building a car from a kit, or changing out a transmission is fun. Are we going to convince the folks who lease a new Ford Taurus every 2 years that it’s fun? No. Do we want to? No.
Will we still keep using Linux? HELL YEAH!
hey, Paul
If you really have a Windows setup that works “first time, every time”, contact Microsoft and let them know how you did it. You’ll probably be able to pick up a few thousand in consulting fees, given that you’ve done something with Windows (presumably by accident) that they can’t do.
If you think running Windows means you never have to back up your computer, you’ve been very, very lucky.
I assume that you don’t make a living with your computer. I make one with mine and I literally can’t afford significant downtime.
I have had my hard drive go down as a Linux user. I was back up in a few minutes with the backup hard drive… and I didn’t have to fight with WGA to get it to run. A few minutes later, I had a warranty claim in with Maxtor.
I back up 3x a week. All I have to do to run my backup is to pop in the backup drive, a customized Knoppix CD boot disk and double-click a couple of times once the computer has booted… and come back in 15 minutes.
For Linux users – this is how to set up mobile rack mirror drive backup or archive to DVD:
http://linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/6391/4/
http://linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/6391/1/
The only reason I take exception to is that nobody is using it.
I wish everyone were. Linux would be better as a result.
Wow, that is quite possibly the best explanation for our using Linux I’ve ever heard. Be assured I will be showing this article to many friends.
Daniel
Hi! Take a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC5uEe5OzNQ you will see a linux box running with beryl at really full throttle, in real overdrive and smooth and nice! I hope you enjoy it as I did and do!
Hi,
of course it’s fun tinkering with your system. Though this is no privilege of Linux. After using Free Software for so many years now, these things are not just fun — they are a habit. Nowadays, if someone asks me to run “his” proprietary programme on my system, I merely can answer with a sceptical face. The idea of doing this has become so strange by now for me:) Unbelievable it was so common some years ago.
I mean, c’mon, someone expects me to let my machine execute his commands instructions and I can’t have any insight or the opportunity to change them to my needs? Ridiculous.
Thanks to all contributors of Free Software for raising such awareness
i loved game computers like c64 amiga and the likes, but early 1990 i had to opt for intel/dos based machines to get a job. There was not much fun in that. 5 years later i ran my first slackware2 distro on a 486. The prison bars of windows gone, the network where it supposed to be, back to fun and doing whatever you want with your machine whenever you want it.
If microsoft were to produce cars, we would see an east-germany like situation with everybody driving in a Trabant, often at the side of the road.
this is GNU/Linux, not Linux.
GNU and Free Software Movement made and makes it what is today.
The Greatest of the Great is FSM.
that is what can make GNU/Linux so superb; no other thing can compete with a such thing.
same reason i ride a fixed gear bike.
The comments were as fun to read as the original post. As a long-time MCSE (oh hush, a man has to make a living) the one comment that has really stuck out is ‘if the GUI can’t do what the command line can, the GUI is not good enough”. Amen. I had a heathkit in the Army 25 years ago. Linux takes me back to those days. Once I bought a trash=80, heaven. Standing on the shoulders of giants…
Linux IS the perfect geek toy. Believe me I’ve got plenty of them myself and plan to build more. But I think one of my second biggest reasons (it may actually by my biggest) is that it’s not MS.
I strongly feel that the geek/tech crowd gets a heady sense of ‘rebellious’ accomplishment in NOT conforming to the MS model and still coming up with something that performs as well if not better than the “commercial standard”. There’s something about the fact that MS can no longer force us to do things
their way that just feels good.
“The man” might have billions of dollars in the bank, but we’re sticking it to him anyway.
While I use WinXP at work, I also use Ubuntu on a second computer. It’s as reliable as XP, and allows me the flexibility to do things I can’t easily (or freely) do on Windows.
A big part of why I use Linux is that the applications are free, and easily installed or removed. Windows seems to accumulate “cruft” that slows down the system over time. Linux doesn’t seem to have that problem. I can surf without worrying about malware drive-by installs on Linux. Though I have an install disk for XP, I also like the fact that Linux installs are straightforward, and don’t require “authorization” or approval from any third party. I can install it on any PC I want, as many times as I want, without any guilt at all.
At home, it’s Linux for me, though my wife still prefers XP, because she doesn’t want to deal with the hassle of “different”. My daughter is happy with Linux, but still wishes it would run iTunes.
This rings true, and whats worse, I’ve actually tried to convince people of this fact. They look at me like I’m insane.
that’s my case too…!! adoro ser usuaria linux… I love to be a linux user… in fact you should add “if you are a girl… you are even more special”
great post!
“Linux goes out of it’s way to get our of your way. Windows goes out of it’s way to be Windows and enforce the Windows way.”
^^ That’s why I use Linux.
Although the tweaking part is 2nd only by a VERY narrow margin.
you know i was going to leave some long rant, but all i am going to say now is….command lines woot!
I use it because it makes me feel free..
Nothing that dictates what I can do and not, I can do just anything!
dude that’s just awesome. You’re absolutely right IMHO
Hear hear!
We use linux at LogicWeb for our web hosting servers. It is indeed secure and a great o/s, especially for server production environment. I use Ubuntu and occasionally Open Suse at home. It is indeed fun to tinker with.
***
LogicWeb…http://www.logicweb.com
A few questions for you Linux fans:
Out of 100 computer users, how many have the skills, time and desire to tweak a system using command lines?
Out of 100 linux users, how many own a dual boot to Windows machine or other computer with a Win OS?
Out of the 200+ posts here, how many came from a machine running linux?
A few questions for Linux evangelists:
What % of computer users have the skills, knowledge, time and desire to tweak configuration files and read man pages to get a system running?
What % of Linux users also own a Windows system – either dual boot or standalone?
What % of posters here did so from a linux box?
What % of posters here did so from a linux box?
This is the only question where you can hope to get an reproducible answer here. Ask Vlad if he can send you the server logfiles. Then chart them and post your outcomings here to discuss.
—-
s.g.
>>We use Linux because we fucks!
fixed
>>We use Linux because we fucks!
fixed
I’m a Danish woman of nearly 68
- years old and I use Linux. No geek or nerd but I just love it. The Evolution is a much better mail system than Microsoft and the Mozilla is also better.
Another wonderful thing is, that it is so much faster when opening my pc. Microsoft just takes forever. The picture program Gimp is very simple to use.
Have a happy Easter.
Leila
All I can say is CHEERS!
If everobody will use Linux some will switch to open-sourced Windows…
/standing ovation
They say the console is not GUI, but what do I see? That window bar right there: “
“jeff@~/”.
Console = Power = Fun
Tell it, brother !
I could not agree more, an excellent article. Linux IS fun, I tinker with it just like I used to do with my old jalopy in college (unfortunately we can’t do that with our “modern” autos, maybe we need a linux based car next!). Thanks for the good read .
Bob
I myself enjoy tinking with linux, i am still very much a noob and have became very interested in the chmod and chown commands which i used at one point to kill the system by changing owners ship of a few core files :p. Orignially though i got into linux because there was free and secure distros and am currently focusing on Kubuntu.
Unfortuantely I can’t go full linux yet as i still need windows to run 3Ds Max 8 and adobe photoshop CS3. Those i can’t seek alternatives to seeing as my current classes in college focus specificaly on them. Be co0l if Cedega 6.0 or wine could run them. (not sure with Cedega yet but wine don’t currently.).
I like FreeBSD, use it everywhere and my laptop uses PCBSD the nearest thing to a Linux-like ready-to-run ‘distro’ for FreeBSD. Give PCBSD a try, folks!
So true. When I screw something up, it pisses me off but it’s still the most fun I ever have with my computer. Errors in Windows make me feel emasculated, errors involving unix-based systems are more adventurous and let me be my computer’s hero.
I also love to oogle the zoo of different distros being developed for different reasons. I like the idea of OS diversity. Shouldn’t there be different operating systems for different uses and different people? I love seeing Linux for pen drives, Linux to mimic Windows, Linux to learn, Linux for “usability.”(as defined by that particular team) Keep em coming, I say.
Ever tried stopping a process in Windows and the OS wouldn’t let you?
Hell yeah! But I’ve also run into that problem a lot on Linux, but of course less frequently (although not a lot less).
Amen to what you said about using the command-line though. Boy is it ever fun! And to automate tiresome processess with bash scripts!
[ $bashScripting = "rules" ] && echo “Hell yeah it rules! || echo “You’re dead to me.”
Excellent. Translated into russian
You are sooooo right
Conceptual Integrity. It does what you expect, the way you expect it to.
you know the funny thing is im a non linuxer… yet since ubuntu came out i cant get my mind off getting my hands on it. in my opinion the reason people don’t readily switch to linux can be related to the facts spread about it just as much as to what it actually is. people are afraid of change and when they hear that lunx is all about change they just seem to shy away from it. i get it from a lot of people.. why dont you use linux i ask.. because theres too much to learn..
)
if they do dig into windows they’ll find that what is there to be learned in linux is simply there in windows as well.. the OS fundamentals remain the same. just the way to get there is a little different. people are simply lazy to get out there and i think its safe to blame Windows for that as well(i just had to do that
in my case i don’t have Ubuntu simply because i have been sharing my pc with my sister who is getting married and heading out in a few months which means i’ll be having the entire PC to myself. time for a format and a new OS..
That is very nice article.This provides very good information about linux.Sometimes we loss our linux data because deleted accidentally or due to software malfunction or virus attack and you can’t access the particular file. I have linux data recovery software that provides easy and powerful data recovery solutions.
A friend of mine pressured me into installing Windows again so we could game together. I begrudgingly agreed in the end, but I dual booted linux and windows XP, rather than full on windows.
Of course, I’ve got an old IBM Netvista with i815 onboard graphics. No wonder I’m getting 0.5 frames per second on WoW under WinE. I can at least get 3 frames peer second on Windows.
I tried to stand up to the pressure though with a defense of Linux. But I couldn’t think of anything to say. Windows could play the game better. There’s no way to defend that.
That was Ubuntu though. Now my dual boot is Windows XP and Gentoo. I tried compiling my own kernel, but I get a kernel panic. I must have missed a kernel module I needed or something.
Oh well. I’m building my own computer! Did the research on every part myself and it’s all being shipped right now. I’ll probably do another dual boot on that one, and this time my kernel will work because I’ll understand the computer’s hardware as well as its software.
Anyway, I will refer this article to my friend in any future windows vs linux debates. It’s just fun like that. Just like building your own computer is fun as well.
I’ve broken my Ubuntu and fixed it on three or four occasions. Nothing more satisfying than knowing you fixed your own system.
using linux is like watching porn hahaha.
Nice text.
I translated it to German.
I have to say, I read this article several months ago, laughed, and thought that those were all horrible reasons for using an impossibly frustrating OS. Well, soon after, I started using Ubuntu, and in the past few months, I have had at least 20 separate distros on my computer. I can’t even count the number of partitioning schemes I’ve tried, and I cannot use windows solely based on the fact that bash is so much better than dos prompt. I just want to say, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Thanks for doing what you do.
Wow. This is exactly what goes on in my head! The annoying part is that I have no idea how to tinker with my system, so every time I give in and start trying to customize my Ubuntu, it stops playing my videos or printing essays since I messed it up somehow. Then I bring my computer genius friend and he gets annoyed with me for tinkering with the system and fixes it after about a half hour of fuming. He then messes around with my system and does all the stuff I wanted to do in the first place. Oddly enough, watching him get angry at my stupidity (I used to use Windows XP but changed to Ubuntu due to the slowness and the viruses.) is somehow even more fun than messing around with Ubuntu in the first place! Thanks for the blog! It is somehow changing my mind from pessimistic (I will fail this test, I will lose the game, it’s no worth trying…) to optimistic (I’m not completely there yet.). Thanks again!
its so freaking true. its entertaining doing a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge sudo command and watching the programs fly onto your comp or typing fortune or apt get moo and all the other easter bugs hidden for my entertainment.
The first time I used Linux at College, the system actually froze on me. LoL. It was Fedora Core 5, I think. I do like Linux, but I can’t break from Windows. If one or two more programs were available on Linux I’d just move.
I’m thinking of gong to Mac next, it has a UNIX base now. And the command line we all *LOVE* so much. <3
I’m not moving to Vista or Windows 7. My reason for picking Mac is because I like to use iTunes. I have to have it. LoL! Its also got a Geek culture around it.
Windows is become TOO user friendly to the point of your needing to not know anything. How do you admin a computer that works with out a reason. No one wants to move to what is being advertised as an “Idiot proof OS”!
absolutely agree!
it was really fun after you know how to use it
Everything you say is true, however, it is not the reason I use Linux.
I came to Windows from Unix (which came after a long career starting with big iron and punched cards). After a change of jobs took away my Unix access (AT&T licenses were beyond expensive, and I could not justify one on my own) I attempted to make my peace with Windows.
It was like moving from a fine shop were all the tools you needed were not only available, but sharp and clean to a place where old cans of dry paint littered the workbenchs, where there were a few toolboxes filled with an odd assortment of rusty and filthy tools, and you could never find the size you needed.
It was like stepping out of a Lotus Elan S2 into a twenty year old taxicab.
Linux was–and is–my way back into the Unix world. It is stepping into a shop worthy of a craftsman, with every tool you need, plus hundreds–okay, thousands–of tools you may never need, but when you do need one or more of them, they are right at hand, and clean and sharp and ready to use.
It is like driving that clunker of a cab to the recycling center and departing in a Tesla with a full battery.
Yes, it is fun, but I am afraid that the word fun is really not up to the task of describing the feeling; it is the deeply satisfying feeling that comes when you are at one with your tools, and without thinking about it you are able to do an absolutely first class job.
*That* is why I am using Linux.
Especially the “breaking the system” part is true for me. After a depressing afternoon I instantly cheered up when X failed to run and I had to gleefully fiddle with the command line to move xorg.conf around.
I am totally new to Linux and using Mandriva 2008. I just got to support the very true fact that I have more fun tweaking everything than I do actually using it. But with everything Linux can do why use windows at all? I mean there are ways to get your games to work in Linux along with every other Windows Program so just convert everyone. Now I am starting to make it sound like a religious cult. Anyway have fun and enjoy the true OS. An Operating System should operate the way you really want it to.
nice article… you speak from my heart
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