 The vast majority of the world runs Windows on the desktop, which may be true, but everyone knows that if you need reliability for, say, the servers that run the internet or store all of our cloud data, Linux is the only way to go. I mean, heck, even Microsoft uses Linux to run Azure. Let's talk about why. This is the top 10 reasons Linux is just plain better, according to our community. Number one is freedom. No, but really, with just a few exceptions, there are no license keys to buy and no specific hardware requirements to use the Linux operating system. Just download it and it's yours. It's free real estate. Why is it free though? Because of you. I mean, maybe not you specifically, Stefan, but you, the global community at large. There are thousands of people that submit new code and features, apply fixes, and otherwise improve the various distributions or distros of Linux. Another reason it's free is due to the organizations like Linux Foundation that are backed by companies like Microsoft, Intel, IBM, and many others. The foundation's goal was to help standardize Linux, support its growth, and promote its commercial adoption. They did this because they already liked it. And the more features, connectivity, software, and hardware integration it has, the better the experience is for the people who deploy products and services for those companies. And the freedom is not just monetary. It's also the freedom to do what you want with the OS. There's no handholding here. You can apt get anything your heart desires. And if you're a customization freak, I know there are a few of you out there, you can cut and prune until your tux is just right. Something like Tiny Core can run on just 16 megabytes of RAM with a GUI. That leads perfectly into number two, software management. Linux uses package managers like apt, Pacman, and RPM, along with many others. What they do is they automate the install and uninstall process for software repositories and app stores. By the way, yes, app stores have been around since the early 90s, long before Apple and Google made them mainstream. Some of the managers even had modern style graphical interfaces. And of course it was on Linux. So it's no wonder that Linux users have spent years mocking the way that Windows plebs will scour websites for the correct download link when all they have to do is issue a command and their package manager will grab the latest version of the software that they want and install it. On that note, when you choose, a simple command will even update everything that you have installed with the latest features and security patches. With the keyword there being choose. You can update whenever you want or you can update never. Oh yeah, and Linux has something called a live kernel. That means that the operating system can be fully updated while it is running. Well, sometimes. Other times kernel and driver updates can require a reboot. Number three is performance. There's a joke about how Linux can run on just about anything from a supercomputer to a toaster. And truthfully, well, if that toaster can connect to the internet, it probably does run some form of Linux. That's thanks in part to Linux's ability to be shaved down into a tiny OS package that's made for one thing and one thing only. Once all the background updates and unnecessary open ports to listen to are trimmed out, you would be amazed at how well that toaster flies. Credit to LGR for that footage of Microsoft's iconic after dark wallpaper, by the way. With some exceptions, like how Linux has been updated faster for AMD Zen processor architecture, more powerful hardware won't benefit as much from this low overhead. But you will notice it in the lower spec systems like the Raspberry Pi that are out there. Linux can give you a full desktop experience on the Raspberry Pi, thanks to Raspbian. And you'll also notice it on hardware from years ago. The Linux community has a proud longstanding tradition of breathing new life into outdated, but otherwise functional computers. Number four is stability. Or as a few of you noted, just plain works. Yes, sir. Once configured and running, barring a power outage or other catastrophic event, lttstore.com, by the way, Linux will probably just keep running. On top of the kernel being stable, the majority of the drivers on Linux are also open source, which means that even if the manufacturer released one, there's a good chance that the community will have had the opportunity to poke at it and fix any errors and omissions. The exceptions are blob drivers, like Nvidia's proprietary GPU driver. It is stable and fast, but it's closed source with locked down firmware and an ongoing refusal to provide any assistance, which is sort of against the Linux ethos. Number five is an interesting one. Spying, privacy, and transparency. If you're savvy enough, the openness of the OS allows you to see literally everything that's happening and monitor any information that's moving to and from your system. And even if you're not savvy enough, somebody is and you can ask around for some help. This transparency is one of the main pillars of free open source software. With tens of thousands of eyes on the code, the idea is that it's much harder for anything malicious to slip through the cracks. And when a distro like Ubuntu adds a data collection feature, you can open up and view the data being sent, or you can just opt out of said feature. Or if you're really skeptical, you can opt out of Ubuntu altogether and move to a different distro. Six is customization, starting with a fun feature called a virtual desktop. Virtual desktops allow you to swap between arrangements of shortcuts and running applications, keeping everything organized and allowing you to focus on the task at hand or play games when the boss isn't looking. Now, Windows and Mac OS both have this feature, but Linux did it well before they did, back in the early 2000s. Gnome and KDE provide exceptional tools for making those desktops your own. And with how powerful they are, you can even make custom UIs for the folks who need them. You can run braille interfaces for users who have limited vision or adapt the layout for users with impaired movement. Of course, there is the typical wallpaper icons, positions of elements, et cetera. But if you don't care about any of that, you can even just not have a GUI at all. Because so much of Linux is designed with server users in mind, you can navigate the entire system with nothing but the command line. Also, in case it wasn't clear, it's not just visual customization. If there are functions and features in another distro that are not in the one that you're using, you can add them to your version. If interrupt-based data retrieval from your high-speed SSD array isn't working, you can switch it over to polling or even a hybrid approach. Really, the only limit is your imagination and your technical skill. And one of the skills you'll need is proficiency with reason number seven, the command line or terminal. This is the heart of Linux. There's bash, dash, or fish, plus many other shells that allow you to run all the various functions of your chosen distro and even automate some of the tasks thanks to the ability to write and implement scripts for the OS. The terminal is all about efficiency. No extraneous movements, no unnecessary clicks. If you like a GUI and the efficiency of the terminal, i3 Window Manager is for you. Who needs a mouse, right? It's a lean, mean coding machine, literally. Another reason to use the terminal is that input, output, and error data can be easily redirected, allowing information to be sent or received from files or other applications. This functionality allows the use of one-liners, which are single commands that use multiple tools to process a multi-stage job. Boy, Linux is cool, isn't it? I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux is in fact GNU slash Linux, or as I'd recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system. Yes, yes, I GNU that. Back on topic, number eight is portability. When you need to troubleshoot systems day in, day out, having a lightweight solution is awesome. Less to carry is less to worry about. And being able to run Linux off of a live USB means that you can run hardware tests on large numbers of machines with a small bag full of USB dongles. Also, if you're feeling adventurous, you can maintain one home directory across multiple different Linux installations and retain all your user configuration, documents, and customization. Because all the config files are stored in your user folder instead of a system-wide registry, distro hopping is actually quite easy, either out of necessity or curiosity. Anthony even ran into a guy at system76 who had a script that he could download from GitHub that would install all the software he needed and download his user profile so he could be up and running on whatever machine he wanted in 20 minutes. Being able to do something like that is exceptionally powerful if you're traveling and you don't wanna take a laptop with you, but you still want your own computer with all your stuff. You just need to carry a USB stick with you and you can load up on almost any computer you come across. Or like we did in our guide on browsing the net anonymously, which you can check out over here, you can use Linux to stay as private as possible by using the tails distro of Linux, again, running off of a USB. Number nine is learning. You guys were vocal about this and I agree, Linux is a great platform to learn on. You can start with a fully featured distro that's got all the gooey elements you could want for easy day-to-day use. Then when you decide, hey, you might wanna change your desktop, you find a tutorial and follow it, giving you a small guided taste of what Linux is about. That might be all you end up learning, but for some others, that might lead into a deeper dive, snowballing into possibly learning to develop tools for Linux. It's the kind of rabbit hole that you can never go down if you don't give it a chance. Last but not least is the community. While the elitists, trolls and general, get off my lawn types definitely do exist. There is an exponentially larger group of people that just wanna see the community grow and flourish with new ideas and users. The community at large works to help newcomers get their feet wet in coding and understanding Linux, and they even answer those proverbial, I know this is a stupid question, questions. And the system is working. The user base for Linux as a regular desktop OS has gone from less than 1% 10 years ago to just under 2% market share this year, which might not sound like much, but it is significant. And with tools like Proton making Linux more feasible for gamers, I don't see that trend reversing anytime soon. Subscribe by the way, so you don't miss our planned Linux gaming update video. That's gonna be a fun one. Thanks for watching guys. If you enjoyed this video, maybe check out our previous one on 10 reasons that Mac OS is just plain better. I think some people misunderstood what we meant by 10 reasons it's better. I think they thought it was 10 reasons proving it is better, but it's actually just 10 reasons that it's better, like 10 things about it that are better. And everything is good and everything is bad.