Customization

It’s system which I can fully make look & behave like I want.

I prefer dark themes – no problem, tons of those to selects. My fonts, image settings, etc are shared system-wide for all the apps. Just like that, without questioning.

It has multiple desktop environments to chose, each offers different approaches on how system/UI behaves and settings to achieve even more crafted experience.

I chose Cinnamon, because it’s classic desktop paradigm, but with future in mind – adding more, not removing. I prefer dock to taskbar, so I’ve installed former, disabled latter, and it works great. I use workspaces heavily (even though I own 3 monitors) + software which keeps track of programs’ positions and set them just how I like ’em.

Control

I can choose from many providers of core (or not) system functions. I can easily work with lot of different bootloaders, services, setting managers, and so on. I can choose from many kernel options, or even build one with own patches.

I do it for VFIO gaming machine, actually.

It’s beast for development

Python, C++, Ruby on Rails, PHP, Java or even C#. Everything feels natural in Linux workspace. Automated with scripts, I run whole development sets with one keypress (and then switch them off in same way).

Sure, I have some problems from time to time. I’ve had those on Windows too. Tracking & fixing on Linux is easier. I might not have them on macOS, but it’s too closed ecosystem for me to even bother.

Only on Linux I feel it’s my computer.