True Operating System ownership - with Linux you truly own your system, no restrictive license agreements that prevent you from tailoring your needs and sharing it among other computers.
Freedom of workflow - since the window managers and desktop environements are not embedded in the OS as in other commercial solutions your method of workflow is up to what you find best
FREE - Yes Linux is free, free to download, free to install, free to update, and free to add as many other free applications as your system can handle. Yes there are versions that charge you but those at present we do not endorse. If you choose to go the route with purchasable Linux solutions you're paying for their support and packaging.
Improved System Reliability - Linux machines can be run longer without needing to be rebooted. Also Linux does not have as many Spyware and Virus programs made for it and the few it does are usually thwarted as the user should never log on with root access.
Improved System Performance - Linux allows you to tailor your machine with the lowest OS overhead possible often greatly increasing system speed in any type of application. Not all systems will run faster with Linux but most will, configuration and usage will be variables in this equation.
New Life for Old Systems - Because of the Perfomance tailoring some Linux distributions can be installed to take advantage of older hardware even turning old 386 and 486 computers into dedicated firewall or print servers.
Dual Boot - Linux can be setup as part of a dual boot system to be able to share a computer with another commercial OS allowing the user to not have to make a leap of faith style switch. Linux is also able to read and in many cases write to other file systems allowing files to be shared between the different OS Partitions on your computer.
A World Wide Web of Self Support - in the absence of a dedicated support vendor the web is filled with different resources of documentation and forums and user groups that can help every user from the newbie to the dedicated kernel hacker.
But what are the drawbacks, well as much as we love Linux there are some draw backs that must be discussed. In order for a user to have a happy switch to Linux they need to know of the potential issues they may encounter.
Hardware Support - Linux often does not have compatibility with the most Bleeding Edge Hardware out there as the major manufacturers rarely code Linux drivers for their equipment so often there is a delay between the time the hardware is realeased to the time that the appropriate Linux driver is created (usually by a user). This is not often a problem however the trouble spots are generally with people who are into advanced hardware such as professional audio cards for recording, the latest digital cameras or scanners, as well video cards and sometimes many Wireless Network cards. However these needs are generally an issue for advanced systems and do not affect most users out there.
Commercial Titles - Some commercial titles particularly games do not get released or ported to Linux some of this can be addressed using emulation software to run them in their own OS but particularly with games the results are far from perfect. However for must productivity and entertainment solutions there are free Linux equivalents that most users will find easy to migrate to from their preferred applications.
