[monoRhesus]

Bare with me for a second. I am not trying to start again the endless discussion. I am in a more simple setting. I have been using Linux for about a year now, and I love it so much that I am beginning to study Unix a bit more seriously. I consider myself a convert, and have stopped preaching the truth except to those who ask for it.

My girlfriend, a Mac lover, asks me all the time. She is puzzled to see me spend hours and hours in front of my laptop, suffering to compile stuff, dealing with drivers, simple (but powerful) applications, etc. So she asks. Why linux? And every time I try to explain why, I end up babbling a series of reasons such as well, it's free, no virus, and the like. She usually just stares at me and walks away.

I know Linux is better, and I could argue well, it is more modular and therefore each application or process is light and does its job right; or because it is community driven it usually has all the main features that users could need, and so on. But I always feel like there is a really good answer out there that's slipping out of my mind. And then I think well, maybe it is like all truths: you don't get it till you get it.

This ain't a great conclusion. I am not googling this because I'd like the community to tell me: What do people here answer to their aunts, brothers, grandmothers, wifes, husbands etc when they ask 'why linux'?