People who spend most of their time on a computer should also think about what operating system they are using. Most of the people are using Windows(~90%) as their OS, maybe because it came pre-installed on their computer or they think Windows is the only option for their computers.

But there exists a great alternative to Windows, Yes I am talking about Linux.

First of all, Linux is not an OS it’s a kernel through which various OSes are derived which we call distributions or distros. Similarly, Windows is based on Windows NT kernel and macOS is based on XNU kernel. So, the question arises that why I should use Linux based OS?

There are many reasons for that. I will tell you a few -

Linux is Free

Yes, unlike some other OS, you don’t have to pay for Linux. Most of the Linux software is free. Linux has almost all free alternatives to windows paid software.

Linux is Open source

The best part about Linux is that its source code is available to everyone. Everyone from developers to users has the freedom to modify the source code as per their need. Even most of the Linux software is open source. This makes Linux more customisable as per your need.

Linux lets you explore

When I switched from Windows to Linux, I wasn’t much into learning stuff like how my system boots , what are filesystems ,et al. but in Linux it’s all transparent, you can see what’s happening in your computer and in the process of using Linux you will eventually learn about working of it.

Linux is more secure

Being open source comes with its advantage of having more eyes over the source code and therefore very fewer security issues are seen as people are actively fixing bugs in the Linux kernel. One more reason for Linux being less vulnerable is it’s less no. of users(~3%) which makes hackers less interested in making viruses for Linux.


Linux is customisable

If I were to compare the extent of Linux customisations to that of windows, I would give 1 to windows and 50 to Linux. In Linux, you customise most of your user interface and even control some part of your UI by writing scripts. In Linux distros, you can choose from various Desktop environments like xfce, gnome, plasma et al. (A Desktop environment is similar to a custom UI in different android smartphones like MIUI, OxygenOS, et al. while the OS is same). Check out this subreddit for some awesome customisations.



Better performance and can run on any hardware

Thanks to its lightweight architecture Linux run faster when compared to windows 10 on the same hardware. Also, you can customise specific hardware requirements in Linux , this means you can run Linux on almost any hardware. Linux manages to run absolutely fine even on older PCs with less processing power, so, yes you can give power to your old machine by installing Linux , isn’t that cool.

Linux can be installed on a USB drive

Yes, you heard it right you can even carry your linux based disto in a USB drive, which is not possible for windows. It’s cool, isn’t it ?


The Terminal

The terminal is the best tool you have in a Linux desktop. You can do almost anything with it. This includes software installation, application configurations, file system management, compiling and running code/scripts, automating processes and much more. The terminal can be a huge productivity booster.


You will get to know more about Linux when you start using it. So, go ahead give it a try, you’ll surely love it.

For those who will we using Linux for the first time, I would suggest going with Ubuntu. Have a backup of your data ready before installing any distro.Try installing it on a Virtual Machine for the first time.


To learn more about Linux head on to linuxjourney.com

Don’t forget to share it with your friends.