User blog:SamwiseFilmore/Why I Love Linux

Yesterday I downloaded a new desktop environment for Linux called LXDE, to provide a light alternative to the Ubuntu default, unity. For those of you that don't know anything about Linux, the operating system (as opposed to others like windows) has three parts (mostly because it's open source). First there is the kernel, which is what makes a linux-OS Linux. It does all the low-level interaction with hardware to allow the computer to actually run, and also does filesystem and provides other back-end services. The next part is the distribution, which adds it's own set of back-end utilities (most noticeable is the package management system) that allow for actual use of the system. The third part (usually only for front-end users, aka, people who use the GUI) is the desktop environment. This is the part of the OS that really takes up system resources and presents the user with something nice to look at. There are a handful of desktop environments that can usually be interchanged with each other. They also include their own set of apps, etc.

This extensibility and flexibility is one of the reasons I love Linux so much. It lets you do just about whatever you want, and you can change just about every part of your system. For those of you who consider yourselves technically adept, but have never thought about using Linux before, I'd highly recommend it. For those who want to learn more about computers and are willing to put in the time (it does take commitment, and isn't always as smooth as Windows or OSX), then I'd say the same.