I don't understand how people use Windows for development! And then they get GitBash and WSL and those terminals that let you use Linux commands and what not, like why not just get gnu/Linux or macOS?

Maybe people depend on Windows only software?
Or it is a requirement by the company they work for? Or they mostly program for Windows and just a small fraction of Linux software?

And GitBash is used for... Git, which is useful for any software development.

I was using Windows for Xamarin, and Mac is too expansive, also visual studio is way too better comparing to vs for Mac.

I write functional and technical documentation often, and I am so comfortable with MS office and I find it way better to other Linux products.

Because they sometimes use Linux stuff on there, not *always*.

Better tools available on Windows, especially if you are willing to pay. Of course this is not true for every purpose, but I suppose it holds for majority.

I mostly use CLI when I connect to shell of some server, no real need of that on my desktop.

I'm a simple man, I have dualboot Fedora and Windows.
I use Fedora for development purpose.
I use Windows for gaming purpose.

Also it doesn't take decades to reboot and switch OS, it takes maybe like 1-3 min max.

I have been developing on windows all my life and have contemplated switching to mac many times.

I get why I could have switched to macs in 2015. The machines were about 1,5x as expensive but at least you got a quality machine that just worked. I will not switch today. The specs are not great. You get shit keyboards. The touch bar is the biggest fail in human-machine interface history. You have to carry 10 dongles to hook everything together. The only thing that is innovative about Apple products is that people keep buying them for higher prices even though they are more shitty every year.

I installed Linux a couple of times. Always found something that I didn't get about the system and abandoned it.

The only downside I see to Windows for developers now is that PowerShell commands suck, are unintuitive and they are different than every server I need to work in. This is solved by WSL.

In the end of the day it's what your used to. Windows gets more hate than it deserves.

@JohnnyBvo I said get macOS, not a MacBook or an iMac 😛 I use macOS on my Dell XPS 15 and my ancient computer, performs much better than Windows!

@JohnnyBvo Indeed, windows get more hate than it deserves. I also think it's totally on personal preference, I've done coding on both Windows and Linux(Fedora,Ubuntu,CentOS) for me Linux is more compelling for development as I'm used to it and I like the use of terminal more.
Where on other hands Windows is not that much bad for development too if someone is used to it.
I mostly use Linux in daily life and Windows only for gaming but I don't see point where I should hate Windows(other than updates xD).

@lazysnail more hate from kiddos who want to look cool

Required by corporate... otherwise, I would choose to develop on Linux.

I mostly develop on windows.

IDE’s on windows has always been better even though text based editors was on more even grounds.

And the only reason I today use conEMU for git is because the one who set it up decided to use a bash script for pre commit hook and I have yet to write one in PS.

And almost all complaints I hear are pure ignorance.

Yes windows used to have serious security problems, 10-15 years ago.

Yes it used to require more resources and with full gui still require a bit more, but hardware is cheap ;).

I have used and are using linux regularly and as long as you use it for a server its very good, but as a gaming platform, media platform or general workstation, I have always ended up with problems I could not resolve, either because the program does not work on linux, or because a bad driver or ...

Mostly I could probably solved it by spending more time on it, but switching back to windows was a faster solution.

Does this mean linux is bad? No, it just means I have an easier time with windows as it suits my needs better in most cases.

Hurray fir choice :)

@Voxera in short a perfect end user oriented solution, but then that's where macOS steps in - the same perfect end user oriented solution but with a Unix based kernel and the same good softwares that Windows gets. It even performs better.

Mostly what @JohnnyBvo said.

Furthermore, macOS's usability has fallen way behind nowadays. Two examples: 1. You can invoke Mission Control (formerly Exposé) via keyboard, but not chose a window to switch to. 2. No window tiling and management besides "side by side" and you lose even that when you deviate from Apple's blessed virtual desktop settings.

Linux, there's always something that doesn't work. Sometimes it's graphics acceleration, or sound, or network, whatever. As I wrote before, this year it was "multimedia keys not working" and compiling keyboard drivers myself. Over the years, these things have changed my initial excitement about Linux to a "meh, don't want a Tamagotchi, maybe next year it'll be better".

In conclusion, Windows just works for me and I can concentrate on doing the stuff I actually want to do.

Windows -> for my every day life
Linux -> DE -> eh
Linux -> server -> my whole life

I see people that use linux installing wine, or people using mac installing parallel or bootcamp

Because dev and gaming machine is all in one

Bcs I like to just turn on my computer, do my shit, close it and go home and not deal with shitty issues linux devs make, which makes me spend time into looking into linux shit I'm totally not into instead of coding shit that I'm into

I've had this discussion with a lot of people, even being on both sides. Just this week I've switched back to windows after about a year on Mac. Almost every argument against windows can be dismissed with either price or convenience. At least for me.

I won't just install macos on a 'normal' pc, because hackintosh is too much of a hassle for me. I won't buy a Mac, because it's waaay too expensive.

I won't use linux, because even though they have made immense improvents over the last years, I still run into problems here and there, that I just don't get on windows.

Also I'm on windows insider, and using WSL2, which means I basically get the benefit of developing in a Linux environment, and being able to use windows only software, without switching between machines.

Also, window management is sooooo much better in windows IMO

It is the other crap that keeps me there. Like Skype for business and corporate stuff. Linux or MacOS would be much better to do the development with.

You know, while Windows sucks, Linux is crap and Macs are shit.

I'm so glad to read all these comments 🙂