I appreciate the simplicity and customizability about it. Of course this doesn’t apply to Linux as a whole, it depends on what distribution and desktop environment (or window manager) you choose. After a period of distro-hopping and trying out different window managers, I finally settled with ArchLinux + i3, and some of the things that I appreciate are:
- Very few things happen unless you do them explicitly: the operating system doesn’t force you to run updates, it doesn’t just run them automatically, and it doesn’t send your data to the OS vendor.
- Things don’t change and disrupt your workflow for no good reason: I read heated discussions about ubuntu putting window buttons from right to left, and then back from left to right. I see Windows 8, with an interface designed for touch devices, being used primarily on desktop devices. And I just don’t care, because the appearance of i3 hasn’t changed since its inception.
- It’s a system that doesn’t attempt to hide everything from you, do everything “automagically”, and then screw up so badly that you’re completely helpless and just reinstall the damn thing. I don’t claim that I never have any issues with Linux, but the difference is:
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When things go wrong on Linux, it’s usually because I have screwed things up myself. So I feel in control, kind of.
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Even if I don’t immediately know how to fix it, at least I have an idea how to troubleshoot the problem.
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