Why using Linux?

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I have been using Ubuntu 16.4 (Linux) recently and I love it. At beginning, my work place offered me various operating systems for my work computer, including Windows 10 and OS-X.  However, I opted to use a Linux-based operating system.

There are several main reasons personally why I force myself to use Linux:
  1. It is a free operating system. 
  2. It is the main operating system used in 99% supercomputer in the world [1]. Currently, I am also using a supercomputer cluster to support my scientific works.
  3. As an engineer, I may need to utilise different kinds of computing platform, such as Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi Foundation recommends the use of Raspbian, a Debian-based Linux operating system [2].
  4. Many other hardware have been used Linux for their operating systems. For example, Robot Operating System (ROS), that is an open source robotics platform on Linux [3].
  5. This comes back to point 1, since it is a free operating system, it has been utilised to develop further other operating systems, such as Android, it has been used to different platform, and so on. But my main reasons are the first four above. :-)
Real-time count of the used operating system on the top 500 supercomputers [1] 

The fact that Linux is a free operating system also has motivated me to promote the use of this operating system. Linux should be encouraged to be used more and more, especially in developing countries where computing infrastructures needs to be enhanced. Therefore, rather than spending money in buying licenses for paid operating systems, it is better if the budget is wisely spent for other hardware infrastructures and developing human resources. 

In the old time during the Aceh war (1873-1904) that was the longest war in Dutch history. The war was so fierce and took place for so many years due to the Acehnese have had a slogan: "Udep Sare Mate Syahid" which in English means "Live free or be Martyred". 

In the modern era, there have been so many wars still fought by various communities. One of them is: the war to fight capitalism. This war has also become fierce because a minority monopolises markets in order to make a huge profit. Therefore, within scientific communities there is also similar slogan:    
"LIVE FREE or DIE"

Scientist Slogan: Live Free or Die!

By:
Martha Arbayani Zaidan
Helsinki, 23 October 2017

References:
[1] https://www.top500.org/statistics/details/osfam/1 (Accessed on 23 October 2017)
[2] https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/ (Accessed on 23 October 2017)
[3] https://www.linux.com/learn/ros-open-source-robotics-platform-linux (Accessed on 23 October 2017) 

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