Why use Linux? Reasons to love & use Linux.

Why use Linux?

Linux as an independent Operating System (OS) has a lot of advantages over the other OS. If you are new here in the last post we have discussed "What is Linux? and History of it" make sure you go through it. Let us go through the advantages of Linux and why we should use it.

1. Free & Open Source

Linux is not only free it is an Open Source too. It is not a Proprietary Software, which means there no need for you to pay for using it or to buy any licence for using it. Linux is open to all, it doesn't belong to any specific company. The name Linux alone is Copyright by Linus Torvarld, apart from that anyone can use it with out any restrictions.

2. Security & Privacy

Next most interesting thing which makes Linux special is its Security and Privacy. Unlike Windows and Linux has less possibility to be affected by viruses. so we know that once after installing Windows the first in which we do was to install an antivirus over it.

It doesn't mean that a Linux will not be affected by Viruses and Malware but it is highly secure to be attacked by Viruses and Malware. There is a definite need for an antivirus to be installed inside a Windows machine but the basic Firewall will protect your Linux machine from most of the windows based viruses. Linux requires root password for any operation so it is highly impossible to run any application without the knowledge of the user. So it is highly secure until you keep your password safe.

3. Stable

Linux is known for its stability. Yes Linux is more stable than the other OS and it is less prone to a system crash. Linux will run in the same speed as of new installation even after years of usage. We all have faced this right, the fresh installation of a windows will work like a charm and after installing 3 to 4 applications / software, You know what happens right? I have installed a fresh Window each and every month just for recovering the speed which i have lost.

Linux will not face issues like this. Even i have seen machines run on the same version of Linux even after a decade. That is the reason why majority of the internet servers run on Linux.

4. Compatibility

Compatibility plays a vital role when we are looking at Linux machines. Linux could run on any kind of Electronic Devices ranging from small to large computational device. For each and every update of your Windows lot of Computers and lot of Desktops become outdated but it will not be issue for Linux. Linux will run on any machine even it will run on on a decade old computer smoothly. Due to this compatibility property of Linux, it could be incorporated into a lot of small devices such as Smart Watches, Set-Top Box, Smart TV and lots more to say.

5. Customisation

Linux is an Open Source Operating System so we could customise it any way we want it. Linux has a lot of built-in desktop environments such as Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon, XFCE... For example if you do not like the default file browser of your Linux machine you could replace it with any one of your favourite file manager application. So likewise it could be done for each and every applications inside Linux Operating System.

6. Software Availability

During the initial period of Linux there were not much software available. It is not the same scenario right now, we now have most of the application which is required for our day to day activity. Most of the devices which build are incorporated with Linux Support and moreover lot of Proprietary software are available for Linux. 

One another major advantage of using your Linux applications is most of the software are free to use and also most of the software in Linux are Open Source, which means we could also see the source code of the application which we use.

7. Update & Maintenance

It is the most important factor which annoyed me a lot when I was working with Windows 10. Whenever I have an important job my system will hang stating that Windows is updating 75 percentage updating 95 percentage updating and it will take around 20 to 30 minutes of your productive work time. It might have happened to each and everybody. 

In Linux, software update or operating system will happen in the background and all the changes will be made whenever the system is restarted. You definitely need not worry about the pain of system entering into updating stage whenever we are starting or shutting down our Computer.

8. Community Support

Linux has a Strong online Community Support. The major reason for it to be like this is, it is built around the open-source capability. Moreover if you are facing any bugs or if your facing any problem with a Linux you could put on your open community most probably most of the problems will be given answered much quicker, unlike Windows, in which we have to generate a ticket and wait for another 3 to 4 days for you to receive the mail or to be updated with what the problem is? Most of the Linux problems are available in the Linux Wiki or else there will be a lot of community members online who will be ready to help you 24/7 across the world.

9. Terminal Interface

Apart from this, one of the major reasons which I switched over and I started to love Linux is its Terminal. Yes Terminal, Linux as a powerful terminal which could be used to run applications in a faster manner. Since we are using TUI mode for doing it. The Text User Interface (TUI) mode works much quicker to respond, compared to any graphical user interface applications which we use. Through terminal we could achieve a lot of things with the help of your terminal. It plays a vital role which we shall look at it in the upcoming posts.