14 DAY TRIAL // First of all you should know there is no universal reason for switching to Linux. Different aspects should be taken into account when talking about power users, beginners, companies and so on. I am going to explain only the main advantages and also the disadvantages for the average user.
Well, I am going to start explaining why I did the switch to Linux. First, it was curiosity. Before Red Hat 6, I have never seen anything else but Windows. I was very curios what is another operating system like. It was hard, because I didn't have any documentation, no Internet connection and no friends to have even heard about Linux before. Fortunately, now you will not have to go through any of this.
The Main Advantages...
Mainstream distributions are very easy to install... if you want to install. Distros like Fedora, Mandriva and SuSe have a very nice wizard-like graphical installer. In my opinion is much better than the one Microsoft uses for their products. A very frustrating issue for me of the Windows installer is that I have to install the SATA/SCSI driver from the floppy. Only the floppy is supported and I don't have a floppy drive on my desktop since 2002. In Linux this is not an issue because of many reasons and one of them is that the kernel has built in a lot of drivers (like drivers for hard disk controllers). You also have the possibility to use distributions that run directly from the CD or other bootable mediums like USB devices. These are called Live CDs. You might give it a try if you just don't feel like installing to the hard drive. I recommend giving it a try to NimbleX, Knoppix or DSL. Some of the best distros also have both a version that installs on a hard drive and a version built as a Live CD so you can preview it. Linux is so versatile that it can even be booted from a single floppy disk and used as a router, a web server or a router controlled from a web page with the use of a built in web server. The list can go on and on, but you got the idea. You can check out Freesco or Coyote Linux.
Mainstream distros come with several graphical interfaces, and from all this you will certainly like at least one. In my opinion, the Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) look much better than the only one Windows has. They are highly configurable. This gives users a better optimized desktop with an increased eyecandy. Even though at first you will probably like only KDE and/or GNOME, when you will dig deeper into Linux you might like to use light desktop manager. Some of them can also look very good and in the same time be very fast.
Let's speak about support. We all know Windows has support, because you pay for it. The question that rises is: Do you use it? Well, I don't, but this is not the point of all. The idea is that Linux also has an excellent support, if you pay for it. Well, I don't pay for support in Linux, because of two reasons. First if all, I can't afford it and second, in the Linux community, I always find someone on the net that is willing to help me. Very often other people encountered similar problem to mine and the answer might already be published.
Let's take into account the aspect of price. Most of Linux distributions can be downloaded without paying anything. And this is legal! A Windows XP can often cost you half the price of your computer. And if you will want to go with Microsoft Office too, you will pay twice the price of your computer. I have nothing against Microsoft, but a lot of people use their software because they are not aware of alternatives. Just give Open Office a try, because in days you will not even realize it's not Microsoft!
I like Linux because it is open source. This implies more than you can imagine. In every software there are bugs, but because the software is open source bugs are fixed very fast and updates become available instantly. A very good example of this is the Linux Kernel. Other advantage of open source is that you can easily customize everything. This is also a good starting point to learn some basic scripting, that can lead to more advanced scripting. In open source, software can be improved very fast because anyone can contribute with code. This means that you can have some very good software free of charge.
I like Linux because I feel like this is the wave of the future. Linux is starting to be integrated in more and more devices, and if you get used with the basic concepts it might help you a lot in different situation and maybe you can earn some money from this. Where there is will there is a way (another better way).
The Main Disadvantage...
It can all be said in a few words: games. There are only a few good 3D games designed for Linux. And when I say a few I really mean a few. Microsoft had the genius idea to invent directx and all the developers are focused on programming in directx. The solution is to use Cedega to play most of the Windows games under Linux. The problem is that they don't always work as it should. The truth is that currently Linux is not for gamers. Maybe a game console is the best solution.
The Main Idea
Where there is will there is a better way!
