I use Ubuntu.
You probably use Ubuntu (you're here, reading this post).
So why do you use it? Why not Windows or OSX, or Debian or Arch Linux. What's so good about Ubuntu that made you want to stay with it - and how long have you used it?
I want to know the things that I can use to encourage others to use it. So what makes you like it?
To get this started, here are my reasons for using Ubuntu.
When I was young, in the 90's, computers were not that common in the small(ish) town I live in, right up until 2001 my school only had a few BBC Micro computers they got free off the government, they sucked. We could do maths and play text games on them, that was it.
We had a cheap Win 98 PC at home but I did not enjoy it, it was very gray and used to go slow and crash on occasion but the worst thing (in the dial up Internet days) was device driver, don't have a drivers disc? Good luck with that.
Once I was old enough to get my own PC with my hard earned money, I picked up some parts from a local junk shop and put together a desktop.
First I installed a Windows XP CD I got free with it, a few days later, it crashed (BSOD), I thought, well that is crap, I wonder what alternatives are available to Windows? A simple Google search for "alternative OS" spat out Ubuntu and it was every thing Windows was not.
The customization in Gnome two (compiz was like nothing I had used before), hardware drivers built in to the kernel all that good stuff. Of course I had to learn it and face some struggles but I learned so much from Ubuntu, things that are second nature to me now, like reading text based output and errors, building programs, using the terminal, all this taught me so much and I quickly went form noob to competent user, that is why I love Ubuntu.
I don't really know macOS but see it as an even more locked down than windows, I like Ubuntu now anyway, I won't be changing ant time soon.
So to summarize, for me, Ubuntu was user friendly in the GUI but let me also use it how I wanted and just felt open and inviting, it was mine, I could use it how I see fit and it and all the software was free! not to mention the community support is great (and even sucked me in to it), whats not to like :):):)
I hope others share there experience, I am very interested to read them.
I got the laptop I'm typing this on in lieu of payment for a service rendered and it came with a choice of Windows in French or Dutch, so I called Microsoft and asked them for an English version and they wanted 140€ for that privilege.
As I had some AIX, RHEL, HP-UX and Tru-64 *nix experience, I googled "Linux support" and the first hit was (and still is) http://www.ubuntu.com/support, so I installed that.
Every time I ran into a problem, Ask Ubuntu came up with great answers, so after lurking in the shadows and posting some anonymous improvements here (which were actually accepted), I decided to sign up after a couple of months and the rest is history...
So the answer to "How long?" is: a couple of months more then I've been active here) ;-)
I use it because it is easy to use, and all the linux features I need are there. Besides, the community is good and I can get my problem solved very quickly. I don't have the passion and time to do very complicated thing, such using Arch you need to customize a lot and read a lot manuals. Using Ubuntu, you just get everything prepared and problema fixed very quickly.
