Here's my longish story.
Back in the late 1990s or early 2000s I was introduced to "Linux" and after a
while I was maintaining a Gentoo install for experimentation and the learning
experience. I didn't learn much about how it all worked, but I was left with
the impression that Linux was fun and extremely customizable. In retrospect,
nothing in the community gave me an inkling about what GNU was or how
important.
Then I struck out on my own and didn't have my own computer for a while,
until about 2008-2009 when I bought an HP Mini netbook with Windows 7 Starter
for about three hundred bucks. I was proud of my little computer, and used
Win7 to the best of my ability, but in a few years (as recent as 2012) I got
completely restless with the system because I didn't have a lot of control
over how it worked and what was running. I longed for "Linux" again, but was
afraid to lose Windows 7 forever in case I was dissatisfied with Linux (MS is
loathe to give you install discs or free downloads when you've purchased
their OS bundled with a computer). I had no USB stick so couldn't try any
Linux live CDs.
I finally discovered Windows Ubuntu Installer, with which I could try Ubuntu
without losing Win7, but that was a disappointing experience; just a slightly
different Windows as far as I was concerned. Then, by some HAPPY ACCIDENT I
stumbled across GNU.org and immediately fell in love with GNU and free
software, a huge step up from Linux and open-source software. My whole
perspective on what is good and bad in software changed, and I was convinced
to chuck Windows and never look back. I had a USB stick by then and tried
Trisquel because it was the only live ISO that worked right away.
Now that I'm fully into free software, I'm impressed by how much of it "just
works" and how enthusiastic the free software community is about developing
software for other users.
