I wasn't satisfied with Windows Vista, but didn't want to be forever stuck with XP, wasn't going to buy a Mac because I didn't want to spend a lot of money when I had a reasonable computer already... Found out about Linux and tried it. Funnily enough, I had used it for almost a year without actually knowing what open source meant, or what source is.... I just saw it as "Ubuntu is free and isn't Windows".
Like I said, at the time I didn't even know what open source meant and assumed that Linux is a product, and Ubuntu was the company that made it. I know better now, but back then I just saw it as a "replace Windows without spending money". Also I was a teenager, and I would have pirated anything back then without a second thought even if it weren't free.
Also, since Linux is so widely used by corporations, they fund its development, so I prefer to donate the small amounts of money I can to smaller projects.
This is a huge problem in the community and the decentralized nature. Like, I dont even know what projects I all use, like curl, ffmpeg, bubblewrap, flatpak, systemd, all these things and again, these are well known projects.
This is a huge funding problem as only GUI apps can ask for funding. Corporations often dont fund small projects, but often just the kernel and Core apps.
I'm aware, I was just explaining my experience back in 2007. It was like moving to a new country where things work differently and the attitude needed was very different from what I am used to.