Something that a lot of Linux fans say is that using a Linux distribution as your operating system saves you money, but they never really say how, so I’ll tell you.
If you take the time to learn Linux, it can potentially save you thousands of dollars in the long term. As for how Linux saves you money in the long term for the home computer user, here’s how that’s done:
No OS licensing cost
Both Windows and Mac release a new version of their respective OSes every 3 years. If you decided to go on the high end with Windows and assume a cost of $200 for whatever "Ultimate" flavor is out at the time, that translates to $67 annually. That may not sound like a lot, but bear in mind all of that is going into the OS itself and nowhere else.
Many high-quality free apps
There’s thousands of apps available on the Linux platform that you’d have to otherwise pay big money for on Windows or Mac; this is particularly noticeable when doing server-type stuff. When you want to use with the big boys in IT do, Linux has you covered at a cost of zero.
Far less maintenance compared to Windows or Mac
This is the one trait of Linux that I wish Linux fans would talk about more.
You have the comfort of knowing that viruses and malware are a non-issue in Linux. Time is money, after all, and if you take away all the time you’d otherwise spend "cleaning out your computer", that’s a HUGE cost-saver.
What good is a car if it’s always in the shop, right? The same can be said for your computer. What good is your computer as a tool if you’re always having to "fix" the OS?
In other words, in Linux there’s more time using your computer for what it was meant to do and far less time (if any) having to "fix" anything because of some link you accidentally clicked that led to malware, compromised your OS, and makes you have to "clean" the thing.
My personal opinion is that it’s the less-maintenance reason that saves you cash more than anything else when using Linux over Windows or Mac. If you wanted to know where the real cash savings are in Linux, that’s where it is.
For some of you out there, if you tallied up all the time you’ve spent "fixing" Windows in the course of a given year, you can probably say, "Gee, if I spent all that time fixing Windows learning Linux instead, that would’ve been a lot more fun and productive.."
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Additionally, you could also figure in the cost savings as it relates to hardware. Depending on the desktop environment, Linux offers several alternatives that will operate on antiquated hardware which will extend the life of the system. Further more, the cost to build a Linux “LXDE” Mint box is usually substantially less because of the hardware requirements.
True enough; in my case, Ubuntu would rejuvenate parts other OS cannot reach any longer. Some of the software bundled with it is brilliant & well worth learning how to make full use of. It has now come to the point when I would seriously consider the inescapable need for a Windows machine, since that need is now definitely gone for word processing and general office use, photo editing, etc. More tempting would be keeping a legacy Windows System (XP) on the side, for offline use with some nice obsolete applications that no longer work on Vista and above.
Maintenance and running “costs” on UNIX systems are minuscule compared to Windows, time and hassle (absence of, that is)) being of the greatest essence here.
It was very interesting for me to read that blog. Thanks the author for it.
I like such topics and everything that is connected to them.
I would like to read more soon.