Linux or GNU/Linux, as it is known, is an open source and free OS. For many people it is a mere OS, and they are stereotyped about it. They think that Windows is good and Mac is better because both of them are worth of some bucks whereas Linux is for free and so, it can’t compete with them. But nothing is like that. Here are five reasons that would really make you go for Linux. Go through this post and you will find it is not only a good (or better) OS but it is worth giving a try. Forget not the Android was built on this platform only.
1. Fast, stable, flexible and light
It is said that Linux is the lightest OS that you will ever install on your system. For installing Windows 7 you need a disk space of almost 20 GB, but for installing the latest Linux you need no more than 700 MB, making it the lightest OS in the market. Talking about its flexibility, once you have installed it, suppose on only one of your computers, you can always port it on any of your other computers without any permissions of the copyrights or registering it online plus no degradation will occur in its performance.
But here’s the real thing, as you know that Apple computers are designed in such a way that only Apple OS would run on them. But it left everyone in amazement when Linux was successfully installed and was working properly on the Apple Computers. As it is well noted with many OS’s that after a year or two, most of them slow down, often hang, and lose their stability. But that is never a case with the Linux. It would never lose its stability even after two years of its installation. This, thus, makes it the most stable OS. It also requires a very less RAM for its working. But if you feed it as much RAM as you would feed to Mac OS or Windows, it won’t run, it will fly, making it the fastest OS in the market.
2. Security
The security is the most important thing to consider while choosing an OS. Of course, there are many anti-virus softwares to ensure the security of your system but it’s Linux we are talking about. Linux doesn’t need any anti-virus software. There’re two reasons for this.
- It has a very few viruses, very-very few.
- even if, by any chance, a virus gets in your system, there are some particular methods to detect virus under Linux. Soon as you find a virus, you can remove it. Plus, it is said that systems running on Linux are comparably tougher to hack than those running on Mac or Windows.
3. Productive, creative and generative
Linux is an open source OS which means that you can always modify and distribute it further. If you are creative enough and want to let your creativity out, go for Linux. Download a Linux, modify it, make it better, and distribute it, without any licence (have I missed the GNU-GPL, General Public License?).
4. Open source and free OS
As, mentioned above, open source means the underlying code may be used, modified, and distributed under the license GNU General Public License. All the softwares, utilities, applications, etc. coming under this license are free. Linux is one of them. Other popular open source utilities are VLC media player and Mozilla Firefox.
5. Rapid Fire round about its functions
You might have seen mobile phones these days having multiple home screens. Ever gave a thought what platform are these kinda softwares built on? Oh, yeah! You guessed it right, its Linux! (Linux itself has four desktops!) What platform was android built on? Linux! The servers, almost 90% of them, run on which platform? Linux! What do top 20 fastest supercomputers run on? Linux! What do almost all of the smart TVS’s run on?
Linux! What do the video game consoles run on? Linux! What is used for controlling stage lighting systems? Linux! What do the world’s best electronic pianos, synthesizers and music generator modules run on? Linux! There are many such amazing functions of Linux, but are beyond the scope of this article.
Linux – Conclusion
Now that I have covered almost everything about Linux, to make you give it a try, I think that you’re gonna give it a thought of getting Linux on your system. Linux can be downloaded from various Linux distributions, commonly known as distros. Some popular Linux distros are Ubuntu, Gentoo, Mint, Debian and Red Hat. These distros provide you the Linux OS with all the system softwares, utilities, applications, etc. in one single package. If you don’t know how to install it, there is an auto install option to make you worry free.
This article is written by Bharat Chauhan. He is a coffee-crazy, music-maniac and a budding-blogger. If you wish to write for HBB, kindly check this.
Hi guys! Nice post! I always have a Linux partition on my PC. I just use windows yet because i have some programs that I use at work.
hmmm….linux….i will think about it as i have never used Linux….i only use Mac and Windows But if yo are saying it must be Good…..So i will use it once …thnx….
I never had much interest in linux, but I thought enough to migrate …
Do it. If not much, run Linux side-by-side with your preferred OS. At least get a feel of it.
Its been 1+ years and i m using Linux only. I have Zorin Linux installed on my Laptop and this is giving very easy and secure internet browsing. The best thing i love is it have fast internet as compared to Windows and this is virus prone.
Using linux is only good if you intend on using you PC only for office tasks and internet surfing, Ubuntu comes with pretty much all the software you need, and its free. I personally wouldnt use it on a gaming PC tho.
Though two reasons are enough to use Linux OS, firstly it is free open source and secondly it is most secure as compared to all other OS’ but it is complicated for new users as there is configuration issue.
I don’t think there’s any configuration issue these days. Ubuntu and other Linux distros are making every attempt to make it as much user-friendly as possible.
I recently got to work on Ubuntu on one of my friend’s PC and it seemed much better and fast as compared to my Windows 7 – think I would give it a shot once.. now that I have come to know about its auto install option 😉
Linux is consider as best OS for geeks.
I never used Linux but heard lot about it. Planning to give a try very soon. Thanks for sharing.
Windows is very easier than any Linux distributions…Some of Linux Distributions Ubuntu,Fedora, need more RAM and system resource than Windows 7 or Windows 8. If you didn’t have Internet connection Linux become worse OS
Those needing more RAM than Windows are server distributions of Linux whereas what I have mentioned in this article is for desktop Linux.
No need of Anti-Virus Soft. 😀 thts nice !!
I use Ubuntu and live boot it with the help of USB whenever I need to go outside and have some works there. Its live boot feature is the reason why I love it so much. And best of that it is open source and can be easily updated ..
You can make Windows 8 Live USB disk , check tech2
nice post dude…..you mentioned best points for choosing linux…..
I think Linux is good option for programmers.
And I love Linux because of it is open source.
Linux has less virus and malware, right? Haha… I guess this is an advantage for Linux too, do you think so?
ya, that’s a good advantage. I like Linux because off this reason as well. Most of the viruses are programmed only for windows.
security is very important for our blo
Hi Bharat,
Great post you have written on Linux. Linux is definitely the best Operating System and due to its unique features of open source, safe as well as productive, it is better than Windows or Mac. Well, this is all I think and it totally depends on the users. This varies all the time. Yes, you are correct that Android was built on this platform only. So, this is definitely very important platform for the professionals. Thanks for the share!!
Linux is great for learning programming and hacking. But for general usage, I don’t think it beats Mac or PC because Windows is a standard
I too think the same. It is for those who know more about programming. A common people might find it of no use.
It’s not true. There are many user-friendly versions of Linux in the market now. You can use Linux for daily purposes like you use Windows or Mac even if you don’t know programming at all. Yes, to get advanced features of Linux, you need to know some programming but I don’t think a common man would need any advanced feature either!
I couldn’t disagree more. You don’t sound like you’ve ever used linux in the modern day. Ubuntu has over the past 3 or 4 years become as friendly if not more friendly than windows. The only time ubuntu is ever less friendly is as a direct consequence of lack of driver support from companies. This as any intelligent person will see is not our fault. When i built my current PC i installed a hackintosh (mac) because i liked unix but thought mac would be the easier solution. That was a year ago, and then this august i noticed ubuntu had pretty much overtaken mac. I’ve tried using windows and in all honesty it suffers the same problems, i can’t blame windows for the fact i spent a week trying to get ethernet working, just as noone should blame linux because their wireless isn’t working. It’s not fair to do that. Once you look past these factors ubuntu is easily comparable to windows 7, so for me and a lot of my fairly computer illiterate friends ubuntu is the choice, aside from other lacking support like games. Which also, is not our fault. This linux for programming and hacking idea is simply ludicrous, every OS supports IDEs, the only reason ubuntu is easier to work with as a programmer is that we have a software utility that does all our development packages and libraries for us. But thats an advantage in all senses as it also manages secure software installation.
Great post, but I still personally think that Linux is more for techie people.
thanks for sharing
Yah Linux is for techie ones. But what I like about linux is that it’s fast, more secure and open source. 🙂
I think Linux is still not as friendly as Windows, that’s the biggest cons. If Linux is easier to use, it will have many more users!