Today marks 25 years of Linux, the most successful software ever.

At LinuxCon this week, Jim Zemlin of the Linux Foundation spoke words of admiration, praise, and excitement from the keynote stage, saying “Linux at 25 is a big thing” and “You can better yourself while bettering others at the same time.”

To celebrate, we asked our readers what they love about Linux and rounded up 25 of their responses. Dive into the Linux love!

#Linux is the most successful software ever #LinuxCon pic.twitter.com/Y6XtT7ySit

— Don Watkins (@Don_Watkins) August 22, 2016

25 reasons to love Linux

25. There is no autopilot. I am the king of my machine. —Anupam Datta

24. Nowadays stuff just works. No hunting for obscure firmware etc. Plug and play. Done in the open. That’s truly, wow. —Jan Wildeboer

23. It is possible to customize Linux in multiple ways: via the kernel when compiling it and in user space. Plethora of free apps. —Eugene J. Markow

22. One thing I like about Linux is the fact that it’s absolutely free. That includes price, ability to modify the code to your own specs, etc. No restrictive licensing, etc. —James Takac

21. Don’t ask what Linux can do for you, it is already done, but what code you can apply for Linux! —Vladimir Cicovic 

20. Working in the terminal is awesome. Makes me look like a badass tech guy in front of the people around me when typing those commands. —Nilesh Sarkar 

19. When I ask “How do I send data via the serial port?” on a Linux forum, I get relevant answers and help. Other forums responses be like “Have you tried the parallel port? —Eric Lovejoy 

18. The freedom to edit my GUI however I see fit without worries about end user license agreements. —Jesse Woodside 

17. A huge selection of applications, tools, widgets, and other software. —Nathan Leach 

16. It gives you the feel of being a real programmer, or a hacker! —Sai Charan

15. There is no limit to what you can do. If you can imagine it, you can make it. —Jeroen Tuijn

14. It is less risky when it comes to virus attack… and of course its an open source! —Kefilwe Mosesanyane

13. The power to customize and create my own specific operating system to be used for any purpose. —Rasyid Sahputra

12. The main thing I like about Linux is there are no wizards. When installing software, it just does it and that includes all the dependencies. —Shaun Henderson

11. My machine loves it! The way I have total control over everything. It’s a love story that is inexpressible. —Rhitik Bhatt

10. There’s always something new to learn. —Alexander Golubets

9. Stability, resource friendly, safety. —Alwan Rosyidi

8. The freedom. —Maja Isaksson

7. Terminal <3 —Shahrukh Alizai

6. The commands 🙂 file handling and big data analysis 🙂 —Sum Aira

5. Light-weight, flexible, stabile, safe. —Tomasz Mikołajko

4. There is more than one topic why I love Linux. But I think because it is available for everyone for free, makes the world a little more free. —Tux von Kybermann

3. The ability to freely download, run, change, and distribute the operating system to as many computers as I want. Not everyone can afford to purchase a copy of Windows every 3-4 years. Everyone can afford Linux! —Jonathan Niccolls

2. It’s the Swiss Army knife of computing. —Gary Alexander

1. Everything. —Ayoub Arahmat