Windows is the operating system that most use in their systems simply because of that they are unaware of the other options. Right now, Windows-based operating systems capture a market share of over 85% globally. Around 8% of people are using Mac OS which in a way is much superior to Windows when productivity and functionality are considered but its comparative cost is huge. Then the remaining population who are tech-enthusiast use Linux-based operating systems. Although being far less popular compared to other operating systems, Linux has far more to offer. So, in this article, we will go through seven reasons why one should use Linux based OS.
Privacy
If you don’t know, Windows by default has every single piece of data collection enabled. So, unless we go in and change that, they’re gathering all of our data. Besides, they have a built-in keylogger that gives them access to all the information that we type, including the bank and credit card details. Although they have now implemented the ability to go in and disable the keylogger. But many individuals would not be comfortable having it in the first place. With Linux based operating systems we actually have privacy. There are some distros that may want to collect some of our data but we can really go in and actually disable these and if we don’t believe it, we can actually go into the source code considering the fact that Linux is open source. There’s no proprietary software or anything hidden in there that we can’t access and disable or remove. So, with Linux, we can actually have the privacy that we deserve.
Reliable
Linux based operating systems are generally more reliable compared to Windows! Sure, it has its twists but it never crashes my entire computer and wastes a whole day of work reinstalling Windows. Have you ever given a thought to why do the biggest tech companies in the world use Linux and in particular Linux web servers? Facebook runs on Linux, Google is running on Linux, Amazon uses Linux, even most supercomputers run on Linux. Why? Linux is just much more reliable, plain and simple.
Secure
Linux is more secure than Windows and there are two main reasons for this.
- Because there are fewer Linux users, hackers don’t typically target Linux and Linux users are typically more tech-savvy than Windows users so they understand the OS better.
- Linux is open source. Well, that could mean hackers have access to the entire source code and because the more we know about a system the easier it is to hack it. Right? This is true but because it’s open-source we also have more eyes on the code monitoring for issues so there are rare chances that a hacker is going to find a backdoor vulnerability and exploit it before someone can catch the vulnerability and patch it themselves. Linux users don’t have to wait for Microsoft to fix issues with the OS.
Low Hardware Requirements
Linux based OS has lower hardware requirements compared to Windows and Mac OS. So, for the same set of resources Linux based OS will deliver more than its counterparts. If you have an old PC or laptop just laying around because it’s too low on hardware resources to support Windows, then installing a lightweight Linux distribution would be the right thing to do. Linux is said to breathe in new life in old systems.
Community
One of the great things that help and prove to be very helpful when any problem arises.
Customizable
Linux based operating systems are incredibly customizable. Because Linux is open-source it’s customizable and we can make it look and do anyway we want. If you want it to look just like Mac OS then you are allowed to change every bit of the UI and the functionality.
Terminal
The Terminal or the command line interface is the most power-packed feature of Linux based operating systems. This feature only can be a reason enough to make developers use Linux based OS. Although Windows comes with a command-line tool and the Windows power-shell, both of them combined cannot provide the functionality to match Linux’s terminal. The Linux terminal is just vastly superior to the Windows command line or anything that Windows has to offer. And when the terminal is combined with the package manager it is just icing on the cake. With the package manager, we can install, delete anything we want. All of it without having to worry about all this random stuff that Windows wants to install or how it wants me to uninstall it.
