I see a lot of seasoned users here, but also a lot of new ones. Out of pure curiosity I would like to know why you switched to Linux, and what your previous daily driver was.
Personally I did it because I like to be in control + I love to mess with the system and see what I can achieve.
What about you?
Share your stories!
The answer to all your questions⌠M$ Windows
NAILED IT!!!
Basically 100% correct sum-up.
In detail:
Control every aspect of your usage, install, and ownership. Even for HW.
It was more of a âCuriosityâ thing for me than Windows or Ms hatred 
I actually liked Windows back then, so much that I had also signed for Insider builds of W11 (here are people complaining about normal update schedule and me? I was asking for MORE!! 
)
I came to breathe life into my virus-filled W10 laptop. I first used Ubuntu Mate. Then, once I heard about Garuda, I just burned it to a pendrive and installed it. And since I have stayed here, Garuda really brought me into Linux (terminal knowledge and all)
I had known about Linux for three years before this manoeuvre, and I had even installed postmarketOS on my test tablet (Galaxy Tab 2) out of curiosity!
Looking for a Teco replacement on a PDP 11/34!
All of the above and in addition (I mean if you come from Windows like me):
-Tired of the system getting corrupted easily, say you install 3 programs, remove two, put 1 back and⌠boom, screen of death.
-If it takes a long time to turn on, it takes the same time to turn off but multiplied by pi.
Summary: can I do the same in Linux? If the answer is yes, why would I use a system that puts so many obstacles in my way, that I have to pay for and on top of that I canât know what itâs doing or how it works inside?
Although I first used GNU/Linux in the 90s, I couldnât use the software I needed, so I gave it up and of course I forgot how little I knew, until last year, and boy, has it changed since then.
Ask yourself the same question, can I do the same in Linux?
In my case it was more an annoyance, that gradually growth into âI cant deal with this anymoreâ
My switch to Linux was completely spontaneous; after a windows update forced itself without option to stop it and caused me a 2h loss of work. I did than just ask my manager for half day off, went home, formatted all my drives on all my personals PCs and Laptops and installed Garuda.
^ That was the last straw
I think I mentioned it here beforeâŚ
I woke up one morning, depressed at the fact that I had to stare at Windows 10 again. All of the software Iâm running at that point was open-source except for the OS. I had to do something, so I went on a search. Trying out all the Ubuntu and itâs flavors (Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, MATE) Although these are nice distros, my knowledge in Linux wasnât enough to make the full transition.
At that point I got the mail for W11 Insider Preview, so excited. I ran that hot garbage for a while until that huge issue came where W11 automatically deleted user files. Went back to W10, got too used to W11, so went back to W11 stable. While still searching for a Linux distro I found Garuda. Fired it up in a VM, noticed how easy it is to get going. Managed to run a few games in Bottles in VM. Really impressed me beyond expectations. Eventually made the switch.
I have yet to get into this linux ricing thing⌠
I used to actually enjoy using Windows up until Windows 11. The amount of telemetry, background processes, and bloat basically had me at a breaking point. Someone at my collegeâs cybersec club hooked me up with OpenSUSE tumbleweed as my first distro before I started going down the arch-based rabbit hole, and I quite enjoy using Linux.
I had a new laptop later since my first one broke which was running Windows 11 (because I didnât want to break warranty) and when I was just trying to boot it up for classes it would end up just getting me BSODâs on boot up which changed me back to a Linux user. Never leaving Linux again fr.
Tired of windows the way it is now, needed to try something new. So here I am
I liked the look and workflow of Plasma
I also forgot to mention that when I used to install Custom Android ROMs on my tablet, I had this habit of hopping between different âspinsâ of them. 
(Donât correlate this with Distro-hopping, I have not done that as much as most people 
)
That feeling and curiosity is what led me to finally install Linux on bare-metal. Luckily me having a Lenovo Ideapad meant that I had no âtypical linux issuesâ so I have always had smooth sailing! 
Lenovo laptops + linux = happiness
I also do custom roms on my phones lol.
The party never stops
I was doing this in the past as well of the start for Android devices. At the time custome ROMs were competing who can provide more customization. Good old times
I havenât used Windows in many many moons. The last Windows OS that I kept installed on any of my hardware was Windows 7.
The main reason I started seriously using Linux was because of Windows malware and virii. Not so much for myself back then as because of my kids. My kids were constantly installing cracks or game cheats that riddled their systems with malware and virii. After a while I just got fed up with Windows turning into a full time job for performing system sweeps and trying to purge their systems of the malware it was constantly infected with.
This was 20+ years ago and I can only imagine how much worse things are now for malware and virii on Windows. So, I formatted my kids computers and installed Linux on them to remove my need for being a full time sysadmin on their systems.
I told my kids when you can backup your own system and reinstall your OS from a pristine backup all by yourselves, then you can go back to using Windows. At first they whined and whined, but after awhile they got used to Linux. Of course they still wanted to use Windows because of the extra game performance and amount of games available only for the Windows platform.
So, I taught my kids how to image their system and reinstall everything from backup with a rescue boot disk. By the time my youngest was 9 nine years old he could do his own backup and restorations on his own systems. I also taught him how to build his own computer system from scratch. That might not seem that unusual these days when everything you want to know can be found in a YouTube tutorial. However, back then probably only a couple of percent max of adults could perform those tasks themselves. After theyâd learned how to maintain their own systems I let them return to using Windows on their own machines.
At that time I wasnât using Linux full time, because Windows 98SE and Windows 7 OSâs werenât riddled with spyware like they are now. Over time though, I developed a deep hatred/mistrust of what MS was doing with newer versions of Windows.
I am an endless tinkerer with my OS and I became tired of having to hack Windows to make my OS the way I wanted it. By the time Windows 8 was released Iâd pretty much migrated my personal machines to Arch, as Windows 8 was a travesty and there was no way I would bend to accept uning it.
MS products had become more and more distasteful to me over time, so I permanently abandoned the Windows world for the freedom of Linux and have never looked back.
Harsh but fair
Open source, got tired of companies that suddenly decided the programs you bought are not yours and changing to rental.
Parenting done right.
You have my utmost respect.
