1. Linux gives you pretty much complete control over your operating system - freedom I never even knew existed when still using Windows. Also, it's a brilliant

1. Linux gives you pretty much complete control over your operating system - freedom I never even knew existed when still using Windows. Also, it's a brilliant platform for developers, due to an abundance of high-quality, free programming tools. 2. Like J_Darnley said, Android doesn't count. Otherwise, anybody running a Linux distro on a PC or server. A majority of Linux users could probably described as "computer geeks", although some distros are getting user-friendly enough to be accessible to non-techies. 3. Well, I naturally gravitate towards other computer enthusiasts, but I have not observed any negative impact on existing relationships. 4. Talking about "<colour>-hat hackers" already implies that you are talking about security-breaking hackers (aka crackers). I suspect most people on HN would self-describe as "hackers", but they would mean hacker in the original sense - somebody who loves to play around with the internal workings of a computer. 5. My programming skills are just reaching a level when I can start contributing some code to projects. Apart from that I'm active on the Ubuntu support forum. Why do I do it? 1) I really enjoy the community spirit within the open source culture, and 2) I feel an obligation to give something back to the community.