> what was ... so appealing or inviting to new users? Back in the early '90s, if you had an "IBM-compatible personal computer" in your home, it almost certainl

> what was ... so appealing or inviting to new users? Back in the early '90s, if you had an "IBM-compatible personal computer" in your home, it almost certainly was running either DOS or Windows as its operating system. And that was fine for most people, but some of us were enthusiasts, geeks, and nerds. We liked technology. We enjoyed fine-tuning our systems, learning all about them, and programming. And sure, you could tinker some with DOS/Windows, but it was fundamentally a closed system. For me, the appeal of Slackware (and Linux in general) was that it opened a door to a whole universe of software and source code that was previously inaccessible, as well as the feeling of belonging to a community of like-minded enthusiasts and geeks that loved and worked on it. A free, open-source Unix-like operating system that ran on your PC at home -- how cool was that!? (Spoiler: very!) I'd heard things about how 'powerful' Unix was -- and now I had my very own, and it even came with source code. I was also a believer in the nascent free software movement. So that's a longwinded way to say yes, all of the above. Community, geeking out over cool new technology, and as a programmer, getting access to a completely open, hackable machine.