As a scientist I have come to appreciate Linux over the years and in my humble opinion Linux gives me the freedom that I never had and never will have with any proprietary operating system. I can modify Linux and even distribute my modifications, scientific experiments and research data with my colleagues and vise versa. It gives science an unprecedented level of control and independence and allows us to observe new properties, devise new methods which opens the door to remarkable scientific discoveries and progress. I remember when I was working at the European Southern Observatory before they made the switch to Linux. We had to wait for weeks and months for Microsoft programmers or third party developers to program our observation, testing or simulation software. What was even worse, if they made a mistake and didn't implement the proper scientific data, we had to wait even longer for them to fix it. That all change at the end of the 90s when Linux became our standard scientific computing platform at work.

For me, as a professional but also home user, there's no other operating system in the world that can provide the same stability, flexibility and customizability as Linux.

We scientists freely share our discoveries to improve the quality of life and create a more beneficial environment, for not just our species but all species on our planet and beyond. We put the knowledge at no cost in your hands, so that you can learn how to make more informed decisions about everyday situations and your life in general. Linux in many ways does the same thing for the computing world. It unites people across the globe to work for a better tomorrow. It certainly has contributed a lot to science in terms of technology, it powers our desktops, space probes, space telescopes, mars rovers, communication systems and much more.

LS