1. It's Free. Both senses, gratis and liberty.
2. It's secure. Based on Unix concepts, it was designed from the ground up for a multi-user networked environment. Desktop users can't accidentally or deliberately remove or change system files, and viruses targetting the linux desktop are almost unheard of. (And you don't get a default blank administrator password).
3. It's educational. If you are seriously into learning about computer software systems, you need to be able to examine the code to see how it works in detail, and to explore with various tweaks of your own. This is possible with open source software like Linux.
4. You can have a user friendly desktop environment. Although people often complain about them, IMHO recent versions of both KDE and GNOME are no harder to learn to use than any MicrosoftWindows or Classic Mac user interfaces, and are more robust.
5. You learn lots. Linux allows you to edit, change and hack away at more options than any other operating system. Learning to do this increases your understanding of what exactly an operating system does, and how it interacts with your hardware and software.
6. You will always be able to get support. If you have the source code, you will always be able to pay someone to make changes for you, even if you have 20 year old software. Read http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=74531&cid=6682516 for a reason why this is important.
7. For some users, it is very important to know exactly what the operating system is doing. With closed source, you can never bo too sure. With open source, you can check the code yourself. For this reason, several military forces use Linux for critical functions, rather than rely on closed source software from an American corporation.

See also IssuesWithWindows (AsSeenOnSlashdot) and WellThoughtOutReasonsToRunWindows.

CategoryPolitics