Well, the short answer is that, of course, people believe that life is controlled by fate or free will! ;-) Most of the answers here have assumed you were asking whether there is free will or not. I would assume that too, but I just wanted to point out that if you're not careful how you ask a question, you won't get the answer you're looking for.
I believe in free will, that's just a personal opinion. This is one of those questions where you can't prove anything one way or the other, since anything you come up with could have just been what you were predetermined to come up with.
If you think about The Secret and The Law Of Attraction, they are all about pure, unadulterated free will. The philosophy behind is actually a bit confusing, (How can I assert my free will without taking away your free will?) but you can read The Seth Material for one possible way it could work.
In my opinion, determinism is a great way to wash your hands of all responsibility for your life and your actions. When you pass homeless people on your way to work, you can just say, "It's not my fault, it's fate. There's nothing I can do about it." I don't buy that, I believe that we have much more control over our fates than most people want to believe. With control comes responsibility. Do you want the power to make choices? Then you also have to accept and take responsibility for the consequences of those choices. When you read what's going on in the world today, you see lots and lots of people not taking responsibility and blames others for everything that happens. Determinism is a victim mentality. I have no interest in a victim mentality. But, if I'm wrong, I will never know it, so what have I got to lose?