11 Reasons Why To Use Linux (A Beginner’s Guide)
Are you not using linux already? “No” you say.. Are you crazy?!
Well hopefully by the end of this post I will have you CONVINCED that you’re already on track to having a much less stressful experience with your computer.
My aim here is to get you ready to fire up a REAL operating system and begin to enjoy all the benefits of linux in no time.
There’s so many reasons why anyone would want to install linux on their desktop or laptop and use it as their everyday operating system and here I’ll go over what I would consider to be the MAIN points on why YOU should make the leap and enjoy this excellent system.
What are you waiting for?!
You will thank yourself in the future and wonder why on earth you never switched sooner.
Anyway, linux is cool and you can show off in front of your friends.
So if this reason alone doesn’t get you using it, then read on and I will attempt to convince you further as I have many more reasons to follow..
Contents
1) Linux Is Highly In Demand In The Job Market
Firstly I would just like to give my short background story on how I discovered linux.
When I started to teach myself linux, there were no smart phones, no Wifi. I had access to dial-up internet and broadband speeds were unheard of around the year 1999.
I began the journey in to linux because I loved how it just done what I wanted it to do. All I had to do was to know how to communicate with it. Little did I know how big it would become today.
Because of all those years that I’d put in to understanding this wondrous operating system, all those days and nights that I would spend locked in my room with nothing but a linux terminal to keep me company, I landed myself a dream job (If such a thing exists?!).
I started working for an international, fortune 500 company as a Software Tester in 2015. I couldn’t believe it. It was like I had working towards this career my whole life and I didn’t even know it.
The excitement of getting paid a higher salary than most people, for doing my hobby! Now not many people can say that.
After placing this new employment position on to my CV/Resume I was keen to find out how well I would now perform in the job market. Sure enough, I started receiving phone calls and emails from a multitude of IT recruiters and employers when I began looking for a new role.
Before I got the job as a Software Tester, I never knew anyone who was interested in linux, or even knew what it was.
Even now, to this day, I look around at the people I know, and I can count on one hand just how many friends of mine that have discovered linux. This number is starting to grow by the year, but it’s still a mystery to most people.
If you work hard and learn linux as much as possible then there’s a job out there with your name all over it.
The best part is, you don’t need to buy much at all. A PC/laptop and an internet connection is all you need, and most of us have that already. You can study at home, in your own time, day or night and with access to a multitude of free info.
I’m living proof that you don’t need to spend a fortune going to college or university to work in the IT industry.
All you need to do is learn the knowledge and skills that are required. One you have full confidence in yourself, you will soon be convincing potential employers in no time.
Salary
As I mentioned before, you will certainly earn an excellent salary when you work in almost any IT position and linux is no exception. My Software Test position had me a £2,000 per year pay rise within a matter of being at the company for 1 year!
As more and more jobs seem to be disappearing into the night, never to be seen again, there seems to be more linux jobs available everyday. But who is out there ready to fill these positions?
International Job Market
Because everyone on this crazy planet needs to be using the same technology to communicate with each other all over the world, this means we can also get hired, anywhere in the world, doing the exact same job!
Think outside the box here and you’ll discover that companies all over the world are in demand for linux skills.
Just take a look on at some of the biggest job websites on the net today and your mind will open up to the potential of what linux has to offer when it comes to travelling.
2) Linux Isn’t Spying (Big Brother Is Watching You)
Okay.. There’s always exceptions to the rule here, as always..
Ubuntu is known for allowing Amazon to advertise to you based on your search history, but in general, linux is not spying on you.
One of THE big issues today with our computing is personal information. Some people are saying that data is the new currency, and I would agree with this statement.
Windows seems to be getting worse with regards to spyware alone. In fact, because Windows is closed-source, who knows what they’re up to, right?
But I certainly wouldn’t trust Apple either. We see in the news way too often how government agencies are wanting our personal information handed over to them from these silicon valley giants. And I’m guessing that Apple are not the only company who have these kind of demands placed upon them.
3) Linux Is Fast
We would most likely see a significant performance issue here in this example. Linux is different.
With linux then, we can choose a version (or distro) that will work well enough on any piece of hardware that we want it to run on. All we would need to do is take into consideration what parts of linux is resource hungry (such as the desktop environment) and we would choose something to suit our needs.
4) Linux Is Powerful
If there’s a task that you need to perform then the chances are that it can be done in linux.
You may argue that Windows can also perform many tasks too..
But when Windows is first installed you have access to very few tools right out of the box. Linux on the other hand will have a huge amount of software all ready to go when installed from a desktop distribution.
5) Linux Is Stable
When was the last time you rebooted Windows? Was it YOUR choice to reboot or did Windows make you reboot?
Linux very rarely needs to be rebooted and when it does, you’re not usually forced to perform the reboot.
Linux respects the user and it respects the fact that you could be running some mission critical processes and a reboot at any particular time could be devastating.
Windows doesn’t care about the user the same way as linux does and to me it feels like it wants to be the boss of your computer and do what it wants, when it wants.
6) Linux Is Secure
Linux by design was created with security in mind from the ground up.
User permissions will prevent any unauthorised changes to files on the system and this helps against virus spreading.
The fact that all the software is open source means that anyone can report vulnerabilities when they’re discovered and so patches can be applied more quickly.
No system is completely free from attack and linux is no exception. However, even closed source anti-virus software for Windows systems have been in the news recently for containing malicious code such as spyware.
Microsoft brags that Windows has more attacks because more end-users use it. It seems like a legitimate theory, but this could also be a good cover story to hide behind.. who knows.
7) Linux Is Efficient
Because linux is open source, many people across the world can read the code and submit update requests that will improve and optimise the software.
Over time, this created incredibly efficient systems and frees up resources on the computers such as processing, memory and data transfers.
Battery life will last longer and computers run cooler and faster.
With linux then we can choose what software is installed and ran.
It’s possible to create our own very efficient system. This may become more apparent in an embedded environment where hardware resources are at a minimum.
The fact that linux is efficient also contributes to it being fast too.
Linux Is Convenient
First of all let me say that linux is free. No credit card transactions need to take place. No product keys and no warranties.
We can find a distribution of choice on the internet and download it at will. If that’s not convenient enough for you then let me try to convince you further.
“They” say that linux is a “real operating system”. What makes it “real” then?
Linux is unbiased towards other operating systems and filesystems. We can access many different file systems from within linux, whereas Microsoft only wants you to access Microsoft filesystems.
If you’re wanting to have multiple operating systems available to you (dual/multi-boot) then the linux bootloaders can be used to boot Windows if we wanted to. Try booting a linux system from a Windows bootloader and see how far you get..
Software upgrading & Repository
When ever you’re using Windows and you want a new program installing then how do you find it?
Most of us will Google for it, find a website that hosts a program and install it from there. But what’s the main problem here?
The problem here is trust. We don’t know anything about this platform. They could be malicious, either in the website or in the software program.
And if it’s closed source (which it usually is in the Windows world) then we really have no way of knowing if we can trust this source. We blindly install and hope for the best.
Linux on the other hand, has a repository. This is like a one-stop-shop for software programs.
Not only is the software open-source (we can all see the code) but it has been tested and verified by our linux system’s maintainers (linux Mint in my case).
This is another great reason why linux is more secure than a Windows system.
Versatile
It has been said that if something can support an operating system, linux can run on it. Linux truly IS like a Swiss army knife due to the fact that it is highly customizable, we can modify it to fit many systems including embedded applications.
Because linux is highly customizable, it can be created to fit on something with little memory. Distributions are created to work on older hardware that doesn’t support graphics heavy operating systems for example.
Automation
This is probably the most exciting aspect of linux to me.
There’s nothing more satisfying than automation. Once you have the basic commands of linux in your skill-set then it won’t be long before you’re creating shell scripts and making the computer do all the heavy lifting for you.
You could be automatically sending out emails when some kind of condition is met.
For example, if your linux laptop has some kind of performance issue then you could notify yourself via email when problems like this arise.
You could also automatically connect into your home router and change configurations by using shell scripts..
the possibilities are endless in linux and you can take it as far as your imagination (and technology) will allow.
9) Linux Is Aesthetically Pleasing
Highly Customizable
Many Windows users will say that Windows is highly customizable by using third party software and registry tweaking.
In most cases these people have never experienced the customizable options available in linux and these features usually blow windows out of the water.
In fact, many features that have existed in linux for many years and have recently been copied by Microsoft and incorporated into Windows.
After all, they’re the true pirates of silicon valley don’t forget.
Linux Is Sexy
Don’t believe me? Have you tried searching the term: “linux is sexy” in your favourite search engine and filter for images..? Be warned here though that this result could show adult images not appropriate for all.
10) Linux Has Excellent Support
Usually you will not experience a problem in linux that’s not happened to someone else.
In almost all cases there will be an online forum with your answer just waiting for you to discover with a simple search engine query.
But get used to this practice! You will find yourself searching questions on a daily basis at the very beginning of using linux and most likely for years after.
11) The Cost Of Linux
Many people are discouraged from using linux because of the fact that it’s free!
These people are used to paying good money for Microsoft software products or expensive Apple hardware and they think that a free operating system must be of a low quality, but this is a myth and couldn’t be further from the truth.
In some cases linux performs much better than any commercial operating system.
When Should You NOT Install Linux?
Because this is a post on ‘why you SHOULD install linux’, I feel that this question needs answering.. and I believe that linux should always be installed.
If you need to use Windows for any reason then I would suggest installing linux along-side Windows in a dual-boot scenario.
Many people say that they don’t fully commit to running linux due to particular software programs that cannot/will not run on linux.
I guess this is understandable as I myself have had this issue in the past, but linux is growing more sophisticated every day, along with third party vendors now recognising linux as many people’s platform of choice.
The linux operating system will only develop and improve as time goes on, but you will never fully commit, if you never fully commit.. does that make sense?!
Conclusion
Well, if this post hasn’t convinced you to change your life now by installing this excellent OS, then nothing will.
The only thing left for you to do now is download your linux system of choice.
If you’re not sure where to start then why not read my other post on “How to select the correct linux operating system to download” and begin your fascinating journey right now.
TLDR: I would recommend Linux Mint in a PC/laptop to any newcomer to the linux community. There’s a phrase in the linux world that you may see from time to time.. “Have fun!”
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