Properties of (GNU/)Linux
In today's desktop operating system market, there are three names which the majority of the people know. MS Windows, MacOS and Linux. Although there are other operating systems too, they are simply too niche or too under-supported to be widespread. Between those options, why people would want to use Linux? Isn't using MS Windows or MacOS simpler than using (GNU/)Linux? Isn't MS Windows or MacOS more supported than (GNU/)Linux? Why would people want to change their operating system while the one they use works just fine? In this section, both the pros and cons of using (GNU/)Linux will be presented.
It's free
In today's world a lot of software is proprietary. That means that the source code isn't shared with the public and is only available to a specific group of people. For end-users, that might not mean a lot but it actually has a big effect on the quality of the software. Proprietary software is prone to go under shady business practices as the code can't be changed except the author. For example, if the developer of the software decided to stop developing a vital software, there is no choice other than accepting it. If a feature gets removed, there is no way to add the feature back unless the software allows external changes. With open source software, these problems are minimalized as there isn't anyone controlling how the code should be written. Free software also allow changes to be made quickly. That causes the code to be developed faster and any vulnerability to be closed faster. By nature, free software is more secure and reliable than proprietary software. There might be some questions about how a software written by voluntary people can be better than software written by professionals who work in multi-million dollar companies. The truth is the people who work in free software projects often have a lot of expertise and code very efficiently. With that, big companies actually contribute sources and code to these projects as they profit from them too. Many corporations use free software in the industry and they would love to see the software they use being faster and more reliable with time. Although proprietary software might dominate some software fields, free software usually has naturally more advantages than proprietary software.
It's efficient
(GNU/)Linux has a lot of features that makes it easier to use. For example, mainstream operating systems rely on GUI for a lot of tasks. There are a lot of graphic-based utilities for performing specific tasks, like partitioning disks, checking the memory used and checking system events. Although (GNU/)Linux has graphic-based utilities for performing these tasks, it also comes with a lot of text-based utilities as well. Even though graphical utilities might be more convenient and easier to use, they need a lot of mouse movement and automating them is difficult. Some tasks that need only a few keystrokes in text-based utilities can take a lot of clicks and movements with additional keystrokes in graphical utilities. Text-based utilities take more time to learn but learning how to operate them might save you a lot of clicks. With that, automating text-based utilities are easier so you might gain even more time if you are doing a repetitive task. Another feature that makes (GNU/)Linux more effective is the relatively low amount of resource consumption. You can run far more programs and do tasks that was harder to do using (GNU/)Linux in your old computer. Many (GNU/)Linux distributions use far more less resources than other mainstream operating systems and some specific distributions might consume almost nothing when idling.
It's stable
For a system that was made for servers that has heavy demands every hour stability is an important goal to achieve. (GNU/)Linux is designed for maximum uptime, meaning that you can use your system without truly shutting it down and booting it from the first step. (GNU/)Linux is also less prone to crashes, especially fatal ones (like BSoD in MS Windows, these types of errors are called kernel panics). There is no need to restart or reinstall your system to make it reach its optimal state, your system can handle a long uptime, and errors can often be solved without completely restarting your system.
It's modular
(GNU/)Linux systems has a lot of options depending on the wants and needs of the user. There are a lot of distrubitions to choose between, although there is no need to try all of them, many of them serve different things and differ from each other by philosophy, the utilities used and the problems they aim to fix. When starting all these options can cause numbness but there are a few popular and beginner-oriented distrubitions, you can select one of them and start to use them in no time. The modularity of (GNU/)Linux also allows for many different configurations, so you can delete all the programs you won't use and replace with the programs you will use.
Aren't there any disadvantages? / Cons of Linux
Although (GNU/)Linux has many advantages by nature, some external conditions might cause some problems. For example many big corporations refuse to release any versions of their programs for (GNU/Linux) but this is not a problem caused by the structure of the Linux. The nature of (GNU/)Linux makes it require more knowledge too, so users might need a little bit more time to settle. There might be some problems that are caused by the architecture of the Linux kernel (monolithic kernel vs. microlithic kernel, the handling of out of memory errors), but these discussions are too heavy for this guide.