It was mostly just a skill issue, I don’t know how anyone uses developer tools on Windows. Building tool chains on Linux just make sense.

I tried Linux in college because it was a hot thing there. Been hooked ever since.

I’m not a distro hopper. I used Debian Testing for many years. Last year I switched to NixOS because it was a compelling value proposition for me. I’m very happy with it!

The Linuxes are the bestest IDEs ever. They even let you run mini IDEs (vim, vscode, etc) inside them. Coincidentally, they’re also where a lot of server code gets deployed, so they’re a a good place to verify fresh coffee.

I’m sure other platforms have caught up, but when I started out, *nix was the most accessible dev platform I could find.

I switched to Linux full time (I’d gone back and forth for a while) about 10 years ago when my XP laptop died.
I had access to Windows 7 via work, but I didn’t like how much telemetry was being sent back to MS…

ad and annoyance-free

Started with Red Hat in the kernel 2.0 or 2.2 days, because I picked up a book+install CD at a garage sale.

Slackware on an old laptop got me through undergrad (desktop ran Gentoo, but I didn’t use it much).

Switched to Debian after that, with a little Arch in grad school btw (not a huge fan — to each their own).

Running Debian now (desktop, laptop, and SBCs), but my heart belongs to Slackware.

Basically Intel graphics on windows broke. Hopped to Linux, no such problems here.

Tried (hopped) almost every mainstream distros, some niche ones too. Due to some issues with trackpad, I am forced to use arch based distros. Currently rocking EndeavourOS.

I went into Linux because I saw some coworkers use it. I stayed in it because I fell in love with the ideals (while it also works at least just as well as propietary OSs).

That shows how important it is that you spread the word. Linux does not do advertising. It needs the community. I love that.

I guess in Linux you either go Ubuntu and stay Ubuntu… Or (like me) you hop for a year or so until you find out your place. (Generalisation)

My fav is Arch Linux. Endeavour OS for easier install of Arch Linux. I haven’t found anything better for personal computers. For work, the choice is clearly Debian for me, because Debian.

Windows is free for all intents and purposes. At least for most people. So it’s about freedom for me.

My favourite distro is Debian. But I wish it had a workable rolling release. OpenSUSE Tumbleweed is the closest distro to that ideal.

It’s free, gratis and it’s fun to use and tweak.

I took a couple of in-person Linux courses when I was about 16-17. Teacher gave me a Kubuntu 6.06 CD to try at home.

A short time later I was using Ubuntu 8.04, 9.04, etc. and until last year I was on Ubuntu MATE 14.04 until I made a new MATE 20.04 install and I built a new main PC with MATE 22.04.

I really notice the difference in UI apps between Ubuntu and Debian, which I tried (and failed) to swich to several times already.

I’ve used and gave support to RHEL in a couple of jobs (graphical and non-grahpical)

I am an IT nerd so I use Linux to learn more about the OS and programming. This was the original reason and still is the reason I keep a Linux machine on hand. Current machine is a dual-boot LG Gram running Windows 11 (wanted to keep the original OS so just shrunk it) and Arch Linux. It runs on Arch 90% of the time. Really only boot the windows partition to use it for work.

First experimented when Windows 8 took away Aero Glass and other customizations. Committed when I had to fight with Windows 10’s twice-yearly feature updates that messed with my settings and wasted space with new programs I didn’t ask for. I now keep a separate laptop just to run Windows when I have to.

Distrohopping was mostly confined to my first year using Linux. Deepin (kept crashing) -> UbuntuDDE (went unmaintained) -> Arch Linux -> Debian. Settled on Debian Stable since it just works, I haven’t been using bleeding-edge hardware, and I don’t like things changing around too often (see my Chicago95 rice).

I made the switch at the start of the year out of curiosity. I had worked for QNX as a student and though that I should have had a better understanding of the system, so I started using WSL for all my programming.

Then joined Lemmy in the summer and that increased my interest in trying it out full time. I was also getting increasingly disappointed with Windows pushing updates for Win11 and features like onedrive.

I’ve been super happy with it so far. I’ve gotten way more familiar with my OS and it’s been such a huge shift in perspective for me to be able to shape the way the OS works to my workflow rather than the inverse.

It was and still is a few things: Mostly the cool factor. It’s different, does what I tell it (safety be damned lol ).

Security: Mostly sane defaults (like not making the initial user with full admin rights).

In the early days, a major factor was being poorer, constantly rebuilding Frankenstein PCs that would trip Ms activation crap. And with so many used parts, performance was better too.

Well … I first got into contact with OpenSource due to Gratis: OpenOffice, Firefox etc. Combining my knowledge of OpenSource with my tendency to break stuff (Reinstalling Boston for the nth time) led me to Linux which I first tinkered with and soon fully adapted.

I had a short hopping phase where I went from Ubuntu (my starter) via Debian (accidentally tried stable) to Arch.

Stuck with arch on my personal machines now run Ubuntu for my work machine and Debian for Servers.

My favourite distro is the right tool for the job (see above) but I’m pretty happy with Arch