🗾 ☸️ 🐄 Seven Reasons Why Linux 👄 🏒 🚴🏽

Linux dominates all types of computers, except for desktops (desktops and laptops) and, probably, mainframes. Embedded systems, mobile, server-clouds-supercomputers - Linux-based systems prevail everywhere. Linux failed on desktops and mainframes because monopolies dominate these segments - Microsoft and IBM. And Microsoft is struggling to maintain its dominance (IBM is gradually losing ground - it is moving its mainframes to Linux).

Microsoft is playing into the hands of the huge ecosystem of Windows, its inertia, which drags business and home users along with it. But the Linux ecosystem has grown significantly compared to what it was about 15 years ago, and now many organizations and home users have a reason to switch to Linux. And not even one, but seven.

Transparency

Linux and most of its ecosystem software have open / free licenses like the GPL and BSD. This means that the source code of the programs are not stored somewhere in the deep programming copies of corporations, but lie before the eyes of the whole world on public servers. Moreover, the development process of this software is also completely open, every change is fixed and visible to everyone. Therefore, the code is constantly checked by a decentralized network of specialists from all over the world for errors, vulnerabilities and malware. If anyone can send changes (patches), such software is improved faster than proprietary software (adjusted for popularity and development model, of course).

Availability

You can get a legal (licensed) copy of the system for free by downloading on the Internet. Yes, there are commercial distributions like RHEL, but in them you pay for updates and technical support. These distributions themselves, again, can be legally downloaded without paying a dime. An enterprise or organization can greatly save on licenses, because pirated software is extremely risky for them and therefore unacceptable. In my opinion, an ordinary home user is also better off not using pirated (hacked) programs, even despite the almost zero risk of falling under the article. After all, a hacked system or program may work unstably. And what prevents hacking pirates from stuffing a trojan or ad module into the code?

Having good programming skills (and not having a personal life), you can control the code of the programs you use yourself. Also completely legal. For organizations and companies this is especially convenient.

Safety

Slightly less than all the malicious programs that inhabit the global network are designed for Windows and its ecosystem. Linux protects your local systems and networks well from infection like Trojans, viruses, miners, lockers, ad modules.

Yes, Linux servers break and infect often, but most of the attacks occur through applications like web servers / engines / etc. or through obvious errors in the administration of the system. If necessary, the protection level can be unscrewed to an impenetrable level using hardened tools like PaX and SELinux.

I often see people recklessly regarding the security of their home systems, saying that these hackers should take me from them. In fact, in 2020 you can get a lot of things from computers: work records, accounts from banks and wallets, etc. Yes, and personal / work files can be lost due to some ransomware, which is also not very pleasant. But hackers do not need to puff to break manually you specifically, bots and virus do everything themselves on a massive scale.

Decentralization

Open and free programs belong immediately to everyone and to no one in particular. Thanks to this, different companies, countries, organizations, collectives and even single individuals like Patrick Volkerding make their own Linux distributions (kits). There are at least a dozen of the most popular distributions, and how many of them are unknown is unknown, because any organization can make a distribution for its internal needs.

As a result, not a single person, company or state can dictate their conditions to the Linux user, especially if he has the resources for local source control. Yes, there is the main branch of the kernel, which is commanded by the great and terrible (now not so terrible) Linus Torvalds, but there are other branches that are commanded by others. Yes, you alone most likely will not be able to influence the development of system components or applications, but you can block or filter changes. Here everything depends on the amount of proprietary software - the more you have it, the less control you have over what is happening (and there is proprietary software on Linux too).

Flexibility and variety

Different distributions are often seriously different from each other, despite the mass of all sorts of Volzhenos, who have only boring wallpapers of unique features. Some distributions focus on the corporate ecosystem and support (RHEL, SLED, Fedora, Ubuntu, Calculate), some on universality and power (Debian, openSUSE, Arch). There are highly specialized options (media centers, workstations, systems for equipment and robots), there are lightweight assemblies, there are secular distributions for security guards and Kali for their nightmares. NixOS and Gentoo offer powerful infrastructures for customizing systems and application software, for creating assemblies tailored for specific tasks. There are Linux for the Orthodox and Satanists (I'm not joking), for musicians and video editors, game and educational assemblies.

If you need to solve a computer problem, it is possible that a Linux distribution has already been made for it.

Scalability

The Linux kernel runs on embedded systems as well as on supercomputers. Linux has no artificial limits on the number of processors, cores, RAM, and so on. In fact, you can copy Linux from your laptop to an adult server, and it will work without problems. Hi, Microsoft, which even on Windows 10 Pro does not work fine with more than 64 cores :-)

This works the other way around - any adult enthusiast can use all the adult features like the hardened tools mentioned above or software for industrial equipment and services .

Simplicity

Yes, desktop Linux is easier to handle than Windows. All you need to do is install / uninstall programs through the package manager and update the system through it (and nobody forces you to install updates). You are relieved of the headache of searching and downloading programs, in which often advertisements, then a bunch of left-wing programs in addition, or some kind of infection in general. Over time, the system almost does not accumulate errors and glitches, although the number of installed-removed packages can be in the thousands. For example, for the fifth year now I have been dragging Linux with me from computer to computer by simply copying the root and home directory.
If you have enough Linux software, and your hardware is normally supported by Linux, then only the habits and patterns accumulated on Windows can make it difficult for you to switch.

“You are only two percent!”

Of course, the low popularity of Linux plays strongly against it: few people on Linux -> software and hardware manufacturers have no reason to support it -> people cannot switch to Linux. But let this not bother you. Even these 2-5 percent are many millions of users that are impossible to ignore. And outside of the desktop, Linux has almost taken over the global economy. So don’t be fooled by the snort of fans to pass on popularity as quality, and join the world of transparency and freedom in IT ;-)

Seven Reasons Why Linux