Like the author says:

> Linux is the preferred platform for development

Honestly I'm surprised he was using a non unix system this long, I guess it kinda proves his point that switching costs can seem huge

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wongarsu 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'm basically developing on Linux despite running windows. I just set the terminal emulator to open wsl by default, and have VSCode connect to the WSL instance. This also gives you the "native docker" the author mentions, just ignore Docker for Windows exists and install docker in your wsl.

This does have downsides, and the author lists many. It also has some marginal upsides. For example running multiple distros for testing is trivial, and while the Windows file Explorer might be a shitshow that reached its peak over two decades ago it somehow seems to still be leagues ahead of the options in linux gui land. And of course the situation in gaming and content creation used to be way worse just a couple years ago, so for many switching only became viable relatively recently

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qiine 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> somehow seems to still be leagues ahead of the options in linux gui land

Hu... use Dolphin?

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condensedcrab 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That seems to be the preferred path for many devs on Windows - unless you can get your hands on a Mac at work WSL is much better/easier. Most non-software companies may not even offer a Linux laptop.

	▲	tracker1 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I'd say even then it depends... for some things WSL+Docker on Windows is better thn certain headaches with Docker on arm Macs. Which, similarly has more than convinced me to fight for PostgreSQL over MS-SQL everywhere possible.

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tracker1 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Before MS really started mucking things up the past few years, I was referring to WSL as my favorite Linux distro... MS took a LOT of the rough edges off in terms of development.

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bobsterlobster 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I was using WSL for the longest time.

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troupo 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Both MacOS and Windows with wsl are perfectly fine for development. Especially MacOS.

There's literally nothing special about Linux when it comes to development. And there are quite a few downsides especially when it comes to some specialized tooling because many vendors often only have Windows tools for their devices.

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72deluxe 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I would have to agree with this. I don't understand people how say developing on Linux is somehow better. I have built C++ software across Windows, macOS and Linux and I can't say one is easier than the other at all. Perhaps it is because of the package management system that makes installing a compiler "easier" than downloading Xcode or downloading/running the Visual Studio installer??

I certainly don't find development tools better on Linux, particularly for C++ debugging. Windows/Visual Studio is the leader in that regard.

I have also done C#, PHP, Java, JS + web development across all 3 and don't see the difference.

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yndoendo 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I find a Linux host with a development guest OS the best to work in. It allows for snapshots, backups, and sharing development environments. Solution A might need a different environment than Solution B.

Funny enough, the bluetooth stack works better on a bare metal Linux box than a Windows one. Audio starts being played sooner.

	▲	troupo 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> I find a Linux host with a development guest OS the best to work in. I had a friend who runs Windows host (because of gaming) and Linux as a guest OS for development for the same reasons :)

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pluralmonad 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This depends entirely on your stack and preferred workflow. MacOS is increasingly hostile to powerusers. If you don't mind following their golden path, all is fine, otherwise... I wonder how long before you have to enable a scary "developer mode" to install software outside the app store.

	▲	morshu9001 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		How is it hostile? Nothing seems to get in the way.
	▲	troupo 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		While that's true, I still don't have any issues running any stack on Mac (I've had Java, Python, C++, some Rust, Erlang/Elixir; previously I also had PHP and Ruby)

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morshu9001 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

and iTerm on Mac is better than any of the Linux terminals

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horsawlarway 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I guess I'd argue that "it depends on lot on what you mean by development".

For anyone hosting a product on servers (almost everything web related)... there IS something special about linux: It's where your product is going to run in production.

For folks who are doing work in other spaces, especially development that involves vendor provided physical devices: Then yes, I agree with you. Vendor support is almost always better for Windows, and sometimes entirely non-existent otherwise. I'll note this is starting to change, but it's not yet over the hump.

The only place I'd consider macOS as a "perfectly fine" linux alternative is mobile (and mainly because Apple forces it with borderline abusive policy/terms). Otherwise it's just a shittier version of linux on nice hardware, riddled with incompatible tooling, forced emulation problems, and a host of other issues. It's not really even "prettier" anymore.

	▲	troupo 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> For anyone hosting a product on servers (almost everything web related)... there IS something special about linux: It's where your product is going to run in production. I've been at several corporations and companies where the target OS doesn't matter in the least, and I've had multiple projects on my own where it was the same. Most of development is so far removed from actual hardware and actual OS, it doesn't matter if your backend is developed on Mac and runs on Linux.

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iberator 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Citation needed. It's not. Linux is only good for hosting. Only very very few large companies gives laptops with Linux to developers.

Linux for desktop is a joke, always have been since at least Slackware 7.1 running at my 486

	▲	physicles 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Did you have a particularly bad experience? Things have changed _a little_ since 1992. I switched from Windows in 2018 because I was trying to install some Python packages, and it was hours of work to find the specific visual C++ runtimes that were needed to get them working. On Linux: pip install, done.