Linux

I'm going to assume most of you are aware of what GNU/Linux is, but for those here who do not know it is I'll try to give you a brief introduction. GNU/Linux is an operating system (OS for short), some other operating systems you may know of include: Windows, Mac OSX, IOS and Android. The Linux kernel was created in 1991 by Linus Torvalds as an alternative kernel for the MINIX OS that was used in educational facilities at the time. Linux was later adapted to be used as the kernel for the GNU operating system. GNU/Linux is going to be the focus of my post and what most people tend to mean when they refer to Linux, there are also several non-GNU Linux distributions, in fact you probably have one in your pocket as both IOS and Android use the Linux kernel.

I personally like Linux, it offers a much greater amount of flexibility than OSX or Windows, the other two main desktop OSes. You can make Linux look and feel exactly how you want it to with large variety of different desktop environments and window managers being available for the platform, just check out r/Unixporn to see what you can do with a little tweaking. Linux is also very hard to get a virus on with 90% of software being distributed via the software channel and installable with a simple command as opposed to using an installer provided by people with external motives, there are also security focused Distros with advanced protection features for those that need it or just like to feel safe. That's not to say that Linux is perfect, far from it, if anything it has just as many or more drawbacks as it does advantages. Application support is simply not as good as Windows, it's improving all the time but it still not quite in the same ball park, Linux is also more complicated than Windows or OSX for the most part, some distros like Mint or Ubuntu are almost as simple and totally useable by the average Jane or Joe without ever having to touch a command line or edit configuration file but for those that dare a world of advanced functionality and understanding await.

If you do feel like trying it out you can use Virtualbox, a piece of software for running a second operating system in a window without having to change anything on your computer. I would recommend trying out an Ubuntu based distro with an alternate desktop as the Unity desktop that comes with Ubuntu isn't very nice out of the box (IMO) and takes a bit of tweaking to be good enough for everyday use. Try Ubuntu Gnome or Kubuntu with the Gnome 3 and KDE desktops respectively or if you want something even simpler go with Linux Mint.