Hi
As a Mac user for 10 years I often get asked 'why do you use a Mac', actually it is more in a mocking way than anything but it does make you think. When the rest of the computing world is happy to sit in the puddle of Microsoft there are others who strive for something better either via Mac or via Linux.
I moved to Mac after years of slogging it with Windows partly because I started working in a design house but partly because I liked the Mac interface - which at the time was pre-OSX. A year or so later OSX came out and I have been through them all. I was also not impressed with the whole Windows experience. I bought a new machine and it was terrible, it didnt even run the OS it came with very well.
I started an interest in Linux about 5 years ago - playing with Ubuntu and Vector to name a few but it wasnt until about 18 months ago that I thought about ditching the Mac and moving over full time. However, funds were very tight and I picked up a low end P2 which gave me a good experience of Linux - Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Mint, DSL, Puppy to name some - but the hardware was not up to being used as your main machine. I was also missing the Mac, so picked up an old G3 and that is where I am today. I never returned to the Mac with the one fanboying enthusiasm I had.
Financially, I do not have a lot of money to spend on computers - my family has expanded in the last few years and funds are tight. Macs are not cheap, even older ones. I had a new Mac which died after only a few years and I have never climbed back again, scrappling with old G3 and G4 models.
I did not want to go down the Microsoft route and with a fair amount of Linux knowledge under my belt decided to jump back into the non-Mac world, bought a ThinkPad (which I am still waiting to arrive) and that is where I am now.
So in short, what make me a Linux user. Well, an ex-Mac user with a disgust for Microsoft and a fan of being different and a nerd at heart.
So what make you lot a Linux? Why do you decide to walk on the other side of M?
Simon