The dilemma among college students about which is the superior OS among Linux, Windows or Mac is inevitable. On one hand, it’s about ease of usage, on the other – cost and security. We have used all of them to provide you with a detailed solution as to why Linux is as superior of an OS for college students.1. Fundamentally Open Source:Open-source software or OS are the ones whose source code is made public and can be inspected, modified, and enhanced by anyone. When you use a software, you don’t typically see the source codes working behind it, like you don’t need to see the clockwork of your watch. But if you know how to repair watches, a friendly way to open them up could be helpful.Major operating systems like Windows, keep the door locked of their source code, leaving users vulnerable to threats. As Linux is an open-source kernel, developers can inspect it for vulnerabilities and patch them if necessary.You could question the logic behind it. If anyone can modify the code, why won’t someone plant malware in the source code?Because they can’t. Community checks every piece of code submitted before those are implemented to the source.2. Faster on Older Computers:Older computers are mostly junk. While the support ends, so does the PC. But if you have an older PC that is pretty close to you for its keyboard layout or trackpad size, getting rid of it could be hard.While it’s not true for every last Linux distro, but statistically, Linux is faster than Windows or Mac. Linux is lightweight. If your preferred choice is Debian or Ubuntu, you might find yourself waiting for stuff to happen after hitting enter. This won’t be the case with Linux Mint or Kubuntu.Being a student, getting a new laptop at once they start to slow down is tough. Try a fresh installation of Linux on your laptop and see if it works. Considering the reputation, it should work fine. See if the necessary software are there. If you use your laptop as a general-purpose device, you might even get addicted to Linux.3. Programmer Friendly:The problem with Windows machines is that they aren’t really made for development purposes. You can obviously make them work for you, but the fact that the languages never completely collaborate with the OS is ever existing.You could develop python programs with Windows, but you’d need a shell to run the programs. It’s all the same with Git.Installing something is the hassle of another hour. As long as there was no Linux, it didn’t seem much. But, after that, Windows installations just seem lengthy and useless.Linux and developers are a match made in heaven. Linux Terminal – the “Powershell” of Linux – is designed to incorporate every other programming language ever made. You don’t need to even use the crappy mouse to run your programs, that’s how fluent it is.Trying to install a piece of software? Try the terminal, not the browser. Using the terminal for the first time could present a learning curve, but with the extensive community support, you’ll get there soon enough.4. Free to Use:Built a cheap PC? Now it’s time to get an OS that costs more than the built itself and works only half of the time. The solution to this for students is to pirate the OS and use a buggy, malware packed OS that steals their data. Why? Because it’s popular among old people.Linux is free and is everywhere. Android has a 70.75% market share worldwide, which is built on Linux. On a personal level, where ease of usage is the concern, Linux fails to deliver. But, as a student, having a free, reliable OS is much more important than being obstinate about not learning.5. Updates:Would you ever consider restarting your PC for thirty minutes in the middle of writing a research paper of 10k words? You wouldn’t. I wouldn’t. Windows and Mac does. They forcefully restart the PC at the time of their choosing. And if you try to prevent it, they threaten you with notifications.Windows did have an “auto-update turn off” feature, which was as dangerous as having a Blue Screen of Death in the middle of a meeting. They did skip the option from Win 10 but has never really come up with the solution for the update time and process.Why not have a free OS that downloads updates on its own and installs them in fragments without you ever needing to turn off the PC?6. Secure:Windows need a lot of updates because it constantly needs to patch something. With thousands of eyes looking over Linux source code, it’s now an event of celebration when something needs to be patched.The Bottom Line:It’s no doubt that Linux is the superior solution for students. Linux is open-source, free to use or customize, is much more convenient for developers. Even if you are not a tech-savvy computer science student, having Linux on your PC would solve every general issue you might ever face with commercial Operating Systems.This is a guest post by Cath Jenkin