Among a few of the reasons people have switched to Linux:

• Linux is very stable; very seldom does a Linux user encounter the equivalent of a "blue-screen-of-death." This means no lost work and no time lost to the reboot process.
• There are a vast number of very useful, full-featured, free software titles available for Linux. (These are the programs that keep EmperorLinux running smoothly.) There are also a large number of software titles which are not free, but are more economical than the typical software licenses for Windows programs.
• Linux systems are secure. For example, most of the viruses described in the news simply will not affect a Linux system.
• Linux has outstanding performance. The minimal overhead involved in running the Linux OS allows those programs that you are actually using, your word processor or mathematical modeler, to utilize your system resources, rather than tying them up in running the windowing system.

With laptops that are fully the equal of their desk-bound counterparts, this really becomes a laundry list of reasons that we prefer laptops to desktops:

• Laptops are portable. You can work on them at home, at the office, at school, and during transit in between. In all those places, you have access to the same data and the same software. For most of our laptops, this costs you less weight and space than a typical textbook.
• Laptops are whisper quiet. Even with an office full of laptops, you will not be able to hear them.
• Laptops take up negligible space. A typical desktop monitor is 1.2 cubic feet; a typical tower case is 1.2 cubic feet. You can fit 24 of our laptops in this 2.4 cubic feet.
• All our laptops have wireless ethernet connectivity (WiFi), so you don't have network wires running everywhere.
• Because laptops are battery powered and you have several hours worth of battery life, you can do that many hours worth of work without plugging them in; they can be completely cordless.
• Even the mouse and keyboard are integral to the laptop itself, again reducing cords and the desk space needed for those peripheral devices. But a laptop is still extensible; you can have that mouse or keyboard if you need it.

Why Linux on laptops? Because we prefer laptops and we prefer Linux.