One of the major differences that separates Micro$oft from many of its competitors is ever increasing resource requirements needed to run its operating systems. While many of the newer Linux distros also require large amounts of system resources, there are also quite a few distros that have been created to be run on older machines with smaller hard drives and lower memory capacities. In many cases, this will allow older machines that would never be able to run any variant of Windows to be used happily as Linux machines, more than capable of handling modern computing tasks.
As I write this, I am running a Linux Mint install on a decidedly older laptop - an HP Omnibook 500 that is at least 10 years old, with a 40 GB hard drive and 256 MB of RAM. After a bit of a glitch because the system didn't find the driver for the wireless card, it's now happily downloading updates. Luckily, the install process copies a bunch of wireless drivers to the disk, so that it's pretty simple to find the right one and get connected properly.
There's something quite satisfying about taking an old machine that most would simply send to a landfill and giving it a new purpose though turning it into a Linux box. Since Linux and the vast majority of the software written for it is open source, there is no huge investment in software, for either a home user or a company, so Linux solutions can be a huge money saver as well. What's not to love about that?
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