I remember the bad old days when you had to recompile the kernel just to use your new printer or tape backup.

No friggin' thanks...

It can be flashy, it can be dull. It can play games, it can write papers. It can be easy to install, it can be a pain to install. GNU Linux is the pinacle of computer development. An operation system that has been abused, neglected and hated from birth by the masses still fights on to secure its place in the modern world. Windows is getting crappier (yeah, i know windows 7 will be better...suposably) even though it was raised in the perfect environment for operation system growth (most hardware and software was built for it). Linux was raised out on the computer "streets"; being given nothing, having to work for its hardware and software. Linux is now a very stable operating system. It's now getting to the point where developers are starting to accomodate it instead of just the the big two.
    In terms of usability, linux is far easier to use than windows. I've used windows for years and switched to linux a couple years ago. You learn how to do things in linux that you can't do in windows. the thing that amazes me about linux is that, for an operating system that was put down for years in the harsh windows/mac environment yet still managed to get a foothold, people still hate it with a passion. Why hate linux? if it sucks so much then why did some of the most briliant developers work for free to build it? If you hate linux and think its good for nothing, then stop using the internet which became great with the creation of the apache server.

Love linux, love metasploit, love milw0rm, whats not to love about the most powerful operating system on planet earth? It certainly beats Windows hands down doesn't it!

Twice as secure,  far better in the eye-candy department, you get 4 interfaces to the desktop and I dont just mean the desktop switch pane button's!

My only problem is I'm lazy so I want a CD install that partitions the hard drive right next to my old operating system with drivers for everything I want to plug in to my computer and works with all my software. I'll just take a apple powerbook.

it wel gd man lol xx

best OS ever.. fully customizable, and my uptime is... lemme look oh 3343 hours and I think the last time was when there was this bad storm... the only time that my computer ever crashed. I can do ALL of the same things as windows and I can DO MUCH MORE, do not expect to just know it, with every peice of technology you MUST LEARN SOMETHING NEW... DUH!

It's stable, and it works well if for research purposes. However I would never use Linux on my personal machine, because it's very slow to support things like Java and Flash which are all over the place any more. And there just isn't the software available for it.  For programming, it's great. For entertainment purposes, I hate to say this, but go with Windows.

Well.... it's free. You simply can't beat free! As far as I've heard, the stability of the operating system is truer than Honest Abe.

Eats Microsoft's lunch in the web server department. Get that desktop nailed down, and some more user friendly software, and it will be all over.

Definitely a great solution for power users or businesses. Try the Knoppix Linux CD version to try it out first. No need to install the OS, it will run from the CD on any windows PC.

Yet to reach maturity. Still feels fragile despite excellent underpinnings; also rather superfluous now given Apple's intentions lit. assimilating Linux

Almost better than DOS, not quite.

Best Server OS. Not yet ready for the mainstream Desktop Market. But it's on the way... Also very cost effectiv ;)

Very stable OS in most flavors. Not a lot of support from application vendors, though. Great for business more then home user until the apps catch up. Open source a big plus for us cheap bastards. :)

It's free, how can you beat that :-) besides it is far more stable than windows. i know linux is a kernel but if it wasn't for the kernel there would be no gnu/linux :p

Please check out my list of linux distros here: http://www.rateitall.com/showlist.aspx?listid=617 This breaks down into over 60 different distros of linux. This OS has lots of options... not too many programs. My latest experinces with linux havent been too good. Redhat wont boot, sigh. tried eveything to get it revived but wont work.... mabye soem day redhat will decide to boot..... somewhere over teh rainbow.... and they forgot a critical networking package on our cd!!!bah! whats the point of having an OS if you cant network it... tired the other verison of it that wasnt redhat-and Poof our NIC wasnt seen by Linux at all!!! that my latest expreinces. if you want a good playtoy and havent been in teh sitiuation I am in linux may be good for you. but for me, its a pain, havting to dpownload hundreds or packages to just watste HD space. getting 40+ megs of packages to get a 10 MB app to work, maybye when Linux becomes more mainstream and linus decides to add support for our graphics card's 3d accell. and sound card's 5.1 channel and our other NIC and USB Power supply, Ill use it. but other than that I dont want to be locked into the choice of hardware I can use on my system. I want to be able to use the Power supply I want and manage it liewk im supposed to. I want to be able to network effortlessly. I want to be able to burn audio cds and data without making my drive act liek a SCSI. Linux defiantly needs further development into usability!

Excellent! - Beats Windoze hands dowm

Linux distributions still have work to do to compete with Windows XP on the desktop. For a server, they are perfect. However I do not recommend them for the average home user yet. Upgrades and installation of software and drivers are unnecessarily difficult (you want me to compile what??) and the availability of desktop productivity software is still very low. Finally, although KDE is a great desktop, the underlying X-Windows is bloated and full of garbage that the average home user will never use. If you are setting up a machine for your parents, and you can anticipate what they will need (e.g. mail, web browser, and that is all), then maybe you will do fine with linux. The second they need to tweak it or install new software, they may be lost forever. (the RPM system is a mess to use, especially when there are conflicts. E.g. can't use many binary RPMs for redhat 7.2 on redhat 8.0, but I can use Windows 2000 software on Windows XP). A system like the freebsd ports would be very helpful towards making linux more accessible. However it will still not solve the availability of software at the local compusa, walmart, etc.

Linux still has problems installing many hardware components that are mainstream for Windows boxes. My first installation ended immediately, because the WD7193 SCSI-3 card required more knowledge than I could bring to bear on it, even after contacting the guy in Germany who wrote the how-to for the card. I didn't trust my ability to install it on my Abit BE6-II 2.0 RAID machine, although that may be part of the new distros. I haven't installed a Windows modem with the linmodem drivers; I've stuck with hardware modems. Starting with MS-DOS 2, it took many years to learn the ropes and avoid the potholes with Microsoft installations. It's just too much trouble to start over from scratch and learn all the tweaks and quirks with Linux. Supporting Linux for users is beyond me. I'll keep installing it, but I don't expect to make that kind of personal investment of time and frustration that Microsoft has required of me. I've been learning OS's since 1967, and I just don't have the heart to start over again. But for you newcomers, go for it.

In my option, Linux is on its way to replacing many MS workstations and servers. Most people that use a MS operating system use it for its ease of use... however at a big price! Architecturaly speaking, Linux is far superior than MS. If in doubt, check the mult-threading, multi-tasking and multi-user cababilities and reliability between the two. Linux far exceeds all these areas!

4-year user of the Linux kernel and still very very happy. The category needs to be narrowed down a bit, but as long as there is an option I'll still pick Linux. More of a Debian man myself.

I switch to linux 2 years ago and haven't looked back. I love it!

Linux isn't an Operating System, it's a kernel. You really ought to break out the Linux Distros here, so they can be individually rated. That might actually be useful :) Anyway, Linux as a kernel isn't bad, but it's got a long way to go before they can stop work on it. Performance is good, and it has most of the features you would expect, although multiprocessor support and filesystems have a way to go yet. Also, I personally dislike the modular kernel structure, but that's just a matter of taste. Other than that, it scores lots of points for being properly free.

Still need to improve for low-class user

This is a very poor site, because there's more to it than just 'Linux', and which distrobution you use is going to have a major impact on your experience. If you've not used it before, check out Mandrake... if you're looking to set up an incredibly stable server, you might be more in the market for Debian. Avoid Lindows like the plague; you can generally get the programs from their 'Click-N-Run' thing for free elsewhere! In general, most people aren't going to want to run Linux on their desktops at the moment, but it makes for solid servers, and geekier folks with an extra machine will have a lot of fun playing with it. And remeber--free software is not about 'free as in beer', it's about 'free as in speech'. Much of it just happens to also be 'free as in beer'.

Support free software, give us money! - Developers of the Linux OS