November 25, 2025
Open source or open wounds?
Why I (Still) Love Linux ?
Old-school love meets modern mayhem as fans, purists, and skeptics brawl over speed and safety
TLDR: A longtime fan explains why Linux still rules his world, from 90s nostalgia to today’s ubiquity in phones and cars. The comments erupt over file safety rumors, a fiery startup-software feud, and whether Linux is great on servers but shaky on desktops—old debates, fresh drama.
A veteran’s love letter to Linux the post lit the fuse, and the comments detonated into pure fandom vs purist drama. The author reminisces about falling for GNU/Linux in 1996, loving that “do-anything” command prompt, and celebrating how Linux now powers phones, cars, and countless gadgets. Then he pokes the bear with a jab at a “data‑eating” file system, and suddenly we’re back in the trenches. Cue “Linux is better than ever!” cheers from optimists, while cautious voices ask: is the scary file‑loss story just a myth?
That myth centers on btrfs (a way your computer stores files), and sidkshatriya wants receipts: is it really less reliable than the old favorites? Meanwhile, the eternal systemd civil war returns. Systemd is the “startup manager” that boots your computer and runs background services. One camp sighs that it kills the classic Unix vibe of small, composable tools; the other camp says it’s consistent, modern, and saves you from writing fragile scripts. The thread even revives the Cathedral vs Bazaar showdown—top‑down order vs open‑door chaos—complete with the spicy claim that Linux shines on servers but stumbles on the desktop. The memes flow: “Year of the Linux Desktop arrives every Tuesday,” and “Your device isn’t compatible with Linux” gets turned into a winmodem support group. In short, nostalgia meets nitpicking, and the result is glorious, geeky theater.
Key Points
- •The author began using GNU/Linux in 1996 and valued the Unix shell’s flexibility and freedom.
- •By 1998, they promoted Linux at university through talks, translations, and writing for Italian magazines, emphasizing the “GNU/Linux” naming.
- •Linux is described as ubiquitous today, powering desktops, Android smartphones, cars, and many embedded devices.
- •Businesses accepted Linux comparatively readily, while legal issues constrained BSD adoption.
- •Community-driven distributions like Debian, Gentoo, and Arch enabled reliable, low-cost setups, with kernel development led consistently by Linus Torvalds and initially focused on x86.