What made you switch to Linux Mint?

[Linee]

I have tried Linux Mint in the past and didn't like it much. If I remember right, I think it was Mint 12. Now I've got Mint 16 KDE and refuse to let anyone take it away. Used Windows for all of my life and KDE is now what I am most comfortable with. In my opinion it is one of the most beautiful distros and I absolutely love the ability to customize all I want!

What I came here to ask is why did you choose Linux Mint, the edition you are using--Mate, Cinnamon, Xfce, KDE--and what about it might get former Windows users to give up their os for Linux?

[FreedomOfTheOpenCode]

I switched to Linux Mint because of Windows 8, and Microsoft insisting that this is the future. I chose Cinnamon because the other environments were either too simple, or else not very intuitive.

[Golbeze]

Two things influenced my decision.

1. I don't like the direction Microsoft is going with Windows 8, trying to kludge together a tablet interface with a desktop interface. After trying Windows 8 for a few months, ended up back with Windows 7 for a while.
2. I recently decided to switch from PC gaming to console gaming. That enabled me to finally just dump Windows for good, as it was the only thing holding me back.

As for why Mint instead of another distro, like Ubuntu? I've used Ubuntu in the past, but find I prefer Cinnamon over Unity, and, for me at least, Mint's Software Center is faster than Ubuntu's. The one Ubuntu uses always took forever to load for me.

[Dngrsone]

I switched to Mint from Ubuntu because I did not like the direction that Canonical was taking things. I started with Cinnamon, but eventually moved to KDE (Plasma desktop) because I prefer to have different wallpapers in each desktop, something I used to be able to do in Gnome 2 but can't do in Unity or Gnome 3 without breeaking things.

Personally, I love the ability to have/use mulitple desktops, and being stuck in only one desktop when using Win is annoying as heck.

[Night Wing]

After playing around with Windows 8 during it's preview days in the summer of 2012 and disliking it intensely, I decided I wanted to try a linux distro. I chose Mint because I didn't have to do any manual partioning as many other linux distros have a user to do in order to install the distro. Mint is much easier to work with and user friendly for me. I didn't find Windows 8 to be easy to work with or user friendly for me.

I chose the XFCE environment since it really appeals to me. It works right ouf of the box. The only major change I do after installation; I replace the now default Whisker Menu, since it doesn't appeal to me, with the original Applications Menu.

[Zalbor]

In short:
I switched to Linux from Windows because I wanted to try something different, stayed because of the configurability and (theoretical) lack of Malware.
Eventually I picked Ubuntu because it was the easiest to make work quickly.
I switched to Mint because Ubuntu dropped GNOME.
I switched to KDE because GNOME dropped GNOME 2 (and, unlike previous times when I'd tried KDE, everything worked correctly).

[mintybits]

Canonical lost the plot.

[RacerBG]

Good question, my friend.

Three things made me to switch to Linux at all (not only Mint and it's desktop pleiad):
1. Like many users said before me: Windows 8 because I don't like M$ direction of developing Windows further.
2. Viruses. Windows is not bad (before Vista) but the modern versions are bloated and if you get a virus (which is very high opportunity) your whole system is doomed...
3. My Windows 7 install after 4 years of use and my Windows XP after 6 years of use were already slow as hell. My only option was Linux because reinstall was not an option at the time.

Im distro hopper so after using Mint for some months I switched to Crunch Bang, then I tried Open Suse, Mageia, Manjaro, Debian... Anyway Im always returning to Mint because it's my first Linux love.

[eanfrid]

First, I did not switch to Mint for myself because I am a long time Debian and BSD user. I will stick to these OS even if I run a few other OS either in virtual machines or on some spare real machines.

1/ I did this for my mother (who is 75) to switch from Windows 7 to an easy to use and stable Linux distribution. I chose LM13 and will upgrade her machine to LM17 after a few weeks when it is ready, hence probably during next summer.
2/ IMHO Mint is less geeky and more "get-the-job-done" than Ubuntu
3/ the way Mintupdate works is a great idea
4/ Cinnamon !

[Previous1]

I've used Linux in the past, openSUSE for a while and later Ubuntu 10.04. But I never really got into it, also because it never worked on my laptop.

With Windows XP reaching EOL and acting up (Microsoft borking updates, etc) I gave Linux another go. Mint 13 XFCE was the first distro I tried, but I gave up on it as especially XFCE 4.10 gave me lots of problems. Tried Mint 16 Cinnamon and MATE but former was unstable and I preferred XFCE over latter.

Then tried Ubuntu 12.04, but problems with both Unity and Gnome Classic made me go for Xubuntu 12.04 (which uses XFCE 4.8). Now I'm thinking to switch to Debian Stable, curious if there's less "little things" for me to fix or cope with.

[Linee]

First off, thanks everyone for all the responses!

Freedom, I am like you. Windows 8 really disappointed me. I did not want the "Metro/Modern" desktop. The Windows 8 apps are just not suitable for the desktop. Switching back and forth pretty much broke my concentration, and in order to use anything I was forced to buy yet more software from Stardock. That improved my experience some but was still too cumbersome installing/tweaking--installing/tweaking--installing tweaking... you get my drift.

Golbeze, I am not a gamer, however, I understand that is one reason why many people have stuck with Windows. From what I understand, there is much hope for gaming on Linux.

I also used Ubuntu in the past but the Unity thing was so horrible for me that I went back to Windows! (until now, of course).

Dngrsone, exactly. I tried Ubuntu with Plasma Desktop in December and never looked back. I also broke things in Gnome 3. I guess eventually I'll try it out again, maybe run in on another system and see how long I last. And for the multiple desktops...YES! In Windows, I had to install Dexpot and again, too much tweaking and hassles.

Night Wing, partitioning is something I haven't quite got down pat yet. Right now I have Linux Mint, Windows 8, elementaryos, and Zorin. I managed to get everything working just by luck I guess.

Zalbor and mintybits, I did the same and totally agree.

RacerBG, my main reason for returning to Linux was a nasty browser hijacker I got sometime around the end of November. After half a day of reconfiguring everything, I threw in the towel and said "Give me Linux!"

eanfrid, I'm a mom who enjoys tinkering around with computers. Trying hard to sway my kids in the direction of Linux. I hate to insert another platform here but they use Android (phones). I've got an Android tablet that I would love run some version of Linux on but I'm too afraid to try. Anyhow, If the kids can use Android, they can use Linux. Maybe someday I'll succeed.

I think your mother is going to love Linux. I'm a mom and I sure do!

Previous1, Ubuntu 12.04 worked fairly well for a while but Unity really gets in the way.

Thanks again everyone!

[Golbeze]

Golbeze, I am not a gamer, however, I understand that is one reason why many people have stuck with Windows. From what I understand, there is much hope for gaming on Linux.

Yeah, it's good that devs are starting to make Linux versions of games. After installing Steam, I was surprised to see that some of my games wre Linux-compatible, including one of my favourites. What's even more amazing about this one game is that it's published by Microsoft , though it was developed by a single person who doesn't necessarily work for Microsoft.

[eanfrid]

@Linee: I proposed to my mother to switch to Linux almost two years ago, when LM13 was still in RC. I gave her one of my spare machines to try and compare LM13 with Windows 7 during about 6 weeks. Just telling her to try to do on LM13 whatever she used to do on Windows when she had time. After 2 weeks, she asked me how to add some software on the box in order to complete the installation. She has a passion for genealogy and was using an outdated badly written Windows software for that. I tried a few Linux software to come back with a shortlist and finally we agreed to install GRAMPS on LM13. It was one of the last winning points of LM13 over Windows 7 Before the end of the 6 weeks period, she asked me to replace Windows with LM13 on her box

[MALsPa]

I didn't "switch" to Linux Mint; it's just one of many distros I've used here. I was attracted to Mint several years ago because it was easier to get up and running than Ubuntu and other distros. I think that's still the case, but maybe not so much anymore. Some other distros are quite easy.

I kept running Mint for some years, along with Ubuntu and other distros. I've always liked Linux Mint, and I especially enjoyed comparing the LTS releases to Ubuntu's. But now the only ".deb" distros installed here are Debian, Ubuntu, and CrunchBang. I don't have issues with Ubuntu like other people here. I guess I got to a point where I'd rather use Ubuntu than use something Ubuntu-based (just like I'd rather use Debian than LMDE). But Mint was one of the first Linux distros I used, and I still think it's great.

I did switch from Windows to Linux, though. Lots of reasons for that, including the fact that I could get Linux for free and install it on as many computers as I wanted to.

[tenfoot]

My first computer was a 286 running DOS 3.1 but I got rid of that pretty quickly and went to an Acorn A5000. I kept with Acorn for over 15 years, ending up with a RiscPc running RISC OS 4.02.

In 2006, at the age of 75 I decided to have a change and switched to Linux. My first distribution was openSUSE but couldn't get on with the KDE DE, so I swirtched to LinuxMint v3.0 Cassandra and have used Mint ever since. Found Gnome 2 DE very much to my liking and currently use MATE. Tried Cinnamon but feel it doesn't have have the flexiblility I'm used to. Can't see myselt changing - although I do distro hop through VirtualBox on occasions.

[famicommander]

MATE.

I hate Unity and GNOME3 with a passion and while I love Xfce, I wanted to get back to a GNOME2 look and feel for awhile. Mint was the only reasonable choice.

[fredhoud]

I've used Ubuntu for several years, and after playing around with different distributions, I found the absolute best out there for me.....Linux Mint 16 KDE! I also run Windows 7 in virtual box for the programs that Linux cannot offer, like QuickBooks, Adobe reader 9 professional, etc. Also, a great community. The support is awesome, and if you run into any issue, as I have many times, the help is right there. For that reason, I have contributed several times, and will continue supporting when I can. I encourage everyone else to contribute if you have chosen Linux Mint over the rest.

Thanks,
fredhoud

[darkanxo]

Im used to use windows xp and 7, but ii ended up a bit fed up of them, so i decided to switch to linux mint, a very good operating system, at least for me. It rocks.

[Adelante]

I had an iMac die at a time I didn't have the money to buy a new one. So I picked up a cheap PC and decided it was a good time to try Linux while I saved up. I always liked XP and I kept it for about six months, but found I used it very rarely. My first Linux distro was Peppermint One and I still use Peppermint because I like LXDE. I didn't exactly switch to Linux Mint, but added it, to learn more and because the Peppermint developer was still involved in a project here at the time. I became more devoted a user after Cinnamon came along, though I love the current Mint KDE and have used Mint Xfce a lot, too, over the years. I never did replace the iMac.

[Linee]

I've used Ubuntu for several years, and after playing around with different distributions, I found the absolute best out there for me.....Linux Mint 16 KDE! I also run Windows 7 in virtual box for the programs that Linux cannot offer, like QuickBooks, Adobe reader 9 professional, etc. Also, a great community. The support is awesome, and if you run into any issue, as I have many times, the help is right there. For that reason, I have contributed several times, and will continue supporting when I can. I encourage everyone else to contribute if you have chosen Linux Mint over the rest.

Thanks,
fredhoud

Agreed. I will have to get in a contribution myself. But one more thing. About running in a virtual box. Can Win 8.1 run in a vb? Unfortunately, that's what I'm putting up with alongside LM. I really wish I did not have to use 8.1 at all and probably wouldn't if not for my school requiring it for some of the work.