I run an operating system on my computer that has nothing to do with Windows
or Microsoft. This runs on the same computer as windows95, but is a completely
separate thing.
My system consists of the Linux Kernel which does all of the hardware interfacing, and memory management for my system and a bunch of GNU utilities which make up the bulk of the system, and keep it together.
Linux, and GNU are free in every sense of the word except that you are not free to restrict this freedom. You are actively encouraged to copy the CD's and put them on as many peoples computers as possible, and there is no timelimit or fee to use these tool. A number of organisations have formed to package these tools together into a single distributable package which is easy to maintain. I chose to get my software from Debian as this package is the most professional and easy to maintain one that I have seen. You can find others on this page which has a link to all known distributions.
I use Linux because of the linux community which is large and diverse. It is a community where people freely help each other, and there is often lively discussion on the irc channels and news groups. If you are stuck with a problem there is almost always someone else that can help you straight away and without any catches. You also have compete access to the source code of the programs (I did say they were free in every sense of the word), so if there is a bug, you can try and fix it yourself. In fact you are encouraged to do this, so that other people can benefit from your work.
I also use Linux because of the neat utilities that are available for programming. Some of these are the program source editor and more: Xemacs, the GNU C++ compiler: egcs, the Graphical program debugger: ddd, the window manager which is known as FVWM2, and the Graphics Editor of a similar style to Photoshop called GIMP which is also, like all of the above, totally free.
There are also a number of Commercial (IE, you have to pay for them) programs that work on Linux. The most notable of these are Corel's WordPerfect, and all of ID's games such as Doom, Quake and Quake2. These are nice to use on linux, and they do seem to run faster then their equivalents on Windows95.
If you have developed an interest in Linux after reading this, then I am very happy : ), but before you go ahead an do it, you should know that it not much like windows at all, and many do not find it easy to use (At first). If you are a software developer, then I would strongly recommend it, especially if you have to work with Unix elsewhere, as using Linux is almost identical to using other Unix systems. Infact many unix systems will only use the GNU compiler, and many of their utilities as they are free, and of high technical quality. If however, you only really use your computer to run Microsoft Office, and play games, then there will not be much there for you, and you will more than likely just get frustrated with it. If you do try, be sure to email me.