How were you introduced to open source technology?

[Deanna]

With over 100,000 members - share how you were initially introduced to open source technology! We have varying stories, backgrounds, industries and skill levels that make up the fabric of this community, we would love to hear how your story began. 

This question is part of the 100K Member Contest - don't forget to kudo the original contest post to be entered. 

[Ardy]

I was introduced to open source technology as part of a natural progression. As a software developer with customers wanting their software cross-compiled for Windows and Linux, I started leaning heavily on open source technology to meet their needs. Over time tools like Git became indispensible...

[dan-esc]

Github!

[Rob-L]

When I was administrating Unix servers in the late 1980's I discovered how good the opensource tools like gcc etc were.. infact a better compiler than the expensive vender provided ones. 
So I downloaded the source code, built it and off we went..  in those days you had to compile opensouce tools yourself if you wanted to use them.
I can remember how interesting it was when the first HTTP server source code was released .. compiling it and accessing it with the first http browsers.. very exciting stuff..
And of course I was using redhat software by around 1995 .. when you bought the os in a box with a pile of floppy disks    Much better to run on (relatively) cheap PCs than alternative unixs of the time like SCO or AT&T ... 

[tombosmans]

In my first job back in 1996, we ran a city's website.  At the time, it was running on a Sun Solaris box, but we moved it to a Linux system.  Great times !

[Jigneshadesara]

I started my career as a Java developer. I was not comfortable using or working on MS tech stack

[vikash01]

I was introduced with open source in RHCSA training.

[jcastillolema]

At the university, learning functional programming with Ocaml.

[OmarVal]

For necessity of security solutions. I worked in this years with different distributions (Ubuntu, CentOS) with iptables, squid, openvpn, etc. 

[crkrishnadas]

By unknowingly I have introduced to open source around 10-12 years back. By installing bluestack in my windows machine to access the android applications. Now in 2022 we are implementing in our work environments for the feasibility, customization , as part of cost optimization etc..

[GoodyBC]

For me, it was security training.  Many of the platforms for learning security training are based off of open-source projects.