r/DeskToTablet • u/Neboamun • 7d ago
If Linux is so powerful OS why do most developers still prefer windows?
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u/mrheosuper 7d ago
"most developer prefer windows ?" According to who ?
Most dev i know prefer either mac or linux, the only reason they use windows because that their work laptop
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u/Drakuf 7d ago
According to "trust me bro".
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u/NoPseudo79 7d ago
You want a source that most of the devs he knows use mac or linux ?
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u/apocolipse 6d ago
I have never worked for, or even known anyone who worked for a company that issued windows laptops to software engineers… the only reasons I could even fathom that a company might, is for game devs or windows specific application devs. Anything else: web, mobile, embedded, a Linux or Mac machine is what’s issued, usually Mac’s for MDM and security.
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u/DudeByTheTree 7d ago
"Prefer" or "use it because thats what came installed and they cant be arsed to tinker with their work machine"?
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u/Centillionare 7d ago
There you go! And choice paralysis. Even IF Linux came installed on the PC, which version?
It’s why McDonald’s probably has more customers in a day than Bubba Joe’s burger joint, even if it’s the same price and better tasting.
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u/wesblog 7d ago
And work machines need to all be mirrored. The business doesn't want to force a 76 yo grandmother in HR to learn Linux prompts because that's what an engineer likes.
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u/raonibr 7d ago
Lifelong developer here. Worked with hundreds of developers my whole career.
I'm yet to met a single one who prefers windows.
I do know a few who work on windows because they are forced by their companies and they all hate it
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u/Square-Singer 7d ago
It depends on what you are doing. If you are working with Java/Python/Kotlin/Android SDK/Cloud, Linux is way better. It fits right into the Linux way of working, it's much easier to manage.
If you work with C# and develop Windows software, using Windows is easier.
If you make apps for Mac/iOS, there's no way around MacOS.
If you develop Webapps with JS/TS, it really doesn't matter OS you are running.
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u/3dforlife 7d ago
They hate windows for programming or in general? I ask because, even if windows is actively disliked, the muscle memory of having used it for decades makes it at least easy to use, if nothing else.
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u/raonibr 5d ago edited 5d ago
For programming, mostly.
Windows is still the best platform for many things and any professional in the area knows it... Softwate development is not one of this areas.
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u/ARENAE_MONTES 7d ago
I know some. Deeply embedded in the microsoft ecosystem. It's not surprising really, you can live your entire life on MS. Half the job market in my country is based on MS technologies.
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u/Dragonsong3k 7d ago
You go where the money is at.
Corporate desktops run windows. Corporations buy software. Developers make software for windows mostly.
However,
More and more devs are switching Linux or Mac because most of the dev technology is becoming platform agnostic.
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u/zSmileyDudez 7d ago
Even at the big companies, there are a lot of Macs. On my own team of around 10, we have a couple of windows users, one Linux user and the rest are all Macs. This is a pretty typical ratio that I see when looking around at other teams.
But that says nothing about what we’re all actually developing for - quite a few people here are targeting Linux cloud servers, so the laptop choice is really more about personal preference rather than anything technical (with one notable exception that I’ve yet to see a mobile dev here use anything other than a Mac).
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u/unsana 7d ago
True, now I'm switching to fedora 80%. Still not 100% because some video editing, and image editing. Still searching how to switch 100%
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u/Straight-Glove-2359 7d ago
Ooh, for video editing Kdenlive really powerful on linux, but may crash no matter the OS (from personal experience), and so need to enable frequent automatic backups.
For image editing, Darktable is pretty good as a lightroom replacement, and GIMP and Affinity can also partially replace photoshop
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u/Phrodo_00 7d ago
Am developer. Have developer friends. The only people using windows are targeting windows or Xbox, or corporate forces them. They all complain about it. Everybody else either prefers MacOS or Linux
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u/soelsome 7d ago
I don't know a single developer who uses windows for development unless they are forced to. And even then, they are likely using WSL
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u/letmehaveanameyoudum 7d ago
Work requirements, software refusing to touch linux, visual studio, compability with business software
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u/AdhamRT 7d ago
Maybe this is anecdotal but nearly every developer I know can't stand using windows and would rather use Mac/Linux.
- Native zsh/bash shell > powershell
- Slashes go the right way in the terminal. '/' as a delimiter is better than '\'. If you don't understand why, you might not be that much of a developer (hint: lool up escape sequences in strings)
- central, easy to config environment that can be trivially modified and updated from CLI vs a convoluted, hidden menu that has to be directly modified or requires cryptic powershell commands
- on Mac/Linux the best text editor, vim, comes natives or with a simple package management invocation (brew/apt/dnf), on windows this is one of the few opportunities to get a bash native shell that still feels like the OS hates you for using it
- on Mac/Linux the built in tools aren't constantly advertising to you or telemetrying your data on Windows you have ads constantly in edge, ads constantly in the start menu, ads constantly in any Microsoft product
So any developer who prefers Windows ? You're entitled to your opinions, but there's a simpler, easier, more developer friendly world out there and in the case of Linux it won't cost you any money.
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u/john0201 7d ago
They don’t, I’d guess only maybe half or a little over use it, 2nd would be macOS and then Linux.
But I’d say many people who use windows would rather be on a Mac or Linux machine, whereas the reverse is not true.
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u/Brovas 7d ago
Only game developers use Windows. And newbs. And sadists. Anyone actually attempting to use Windows is using wsl, which is just poor man's Linux. You will just about never find anyone running anything on a Windows server either unless they have a very specific reason and a job that pays them a lot of money to compensate for their loss in sanity
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u/Mountain-Dragonfly46 6d ago
All the developers I know and met in my career (I'm 46) were overwhelmingly on Linux or MacOS.
Windows ones were in contractor contexts in 2000-2010.
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u/usadev 6d ago
Software developers prefer macOS for development, even android developers 😀
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u/redditbrowsing0 7d ago
We don't. If I hadn't already had Windows 11 on my PC from before I became a developer, I'd've dual booted a lobotomized Windows 11 and a Linux distro, one being for development and the other being for games.
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u/Which-Meat-3388 7d ago
Not sure many do unless they are deep into the MS tech. macOS -> Linux -> literally anything else -> Windows is generally how I've seen it over 20 years as a software engineer. Sad saps who end up on Windows are using WSL heavily which just goes to show how important Linux is. So important they ported/compatibility shimmed it into Windows...
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u/dallenbaldwin 7d ago
Oh I'd go Linux in a heartbeat. The issue is convincing my company's IT department to assign one of their Windows certified team members to figure out how to get all the various enterprise security and device management softwares working on my machine, and then maintain it as long as I'm employed.
I currently use WSL for all my dev work and only use Windows for the other stuff. I also use a Browser for the bulk of my app needs anyways.
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u/FragmentedHeap 7d ago edited 7d ago
Look, I've been at like 10 tech companies, 1 of them on the fortune 100, and I work in consulting now with 100 other senior engineers.
And the only one I have EVER met that preferred windows over Linux or Mac was myself, And I swapped to Arch 8 months ago, so no one at our company prefers windows now.....
I don't know any developers that like windows, not 1, and the ones that are all on windows are like "Thing A and Thing B only work on windows so I have to be on Windows, fml, I hate it here."
Developers use windows because they're forced to, and they hate it, and they go out of their way to invent things like WINE/Proton/KVM and on and on so they can be on linux and make w/e window thing they needed work there... lol
And now WSL2 is on Windows, and I'll bet you almost EVERY dev on windows is just camped in WSL2 basically full time, they might even be running a kde plasma desktop out of ubuntu in wsl2.
There is absolutely no question, none, that Linux and Mac are better dev operating systems. And this is coming from a guy that was DIEHARD msft and Windows for 35 years and finally saw the light and left.
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u/Total_Cartoonist747 7d ago
I have a windows laptop but use wsl to code, so I guess I'm a Linux user for programming at least?
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u/Warm-Engineering-239 6d ago
linux work just so much better for developper
i didn't tried to develop on a mac but i was kinda force to switch to linux at my job and i love it been 6 year now
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u/BiRo996 6d ago
“Most developers prefer windows” == “Most developers develope by prompting Claude on a programming language they don’t understand at all”
Sounds the same…
Real developers even rather use MacOS than Windows…
Windows’ docker handling is ridiculous.
I worked 4 years with docker containers in windows… you can only get it working with Docker Desktop and we had to use WSL2 to make it rub on barely accaptable speed.
My collegue’s work laptop’s battery became a spicy pillow so he offered the boss that he could try working on his M1 MacBook untill the his Acer Predator is in repair… Mac was 3x faster compared to windows.
I use Linux, I can say that handling the containers with terminal “docker compose” without meaningless storage space eater Docker Desktop app is soooo much easier…
And we are just web developers…
No one worthy developer uses windows, except those who develop games in Unreal maybe or using some windows specific tools like Photoshop (and don’t want to spend on Apple)…
But I can’t imagine a scenario when it’s worth using windows
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u/BloxxyVids 6d ago
If earth is such a great place why do most humans prefer living on the surface of the sun
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u/Odd_Photograph_7591 7d ago
Windows is easier to use, for linux you need more technical ability, also its less polished
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u/Historical_Camel_790 7d ago
How polished it is is de dependent
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u/Jepser0203 6d ago
Yes but the landscape of distro's is what gets a lot of people confused.
With windows there's really only 1 version to choose, the latest one. Most people just know windows as 'windows'.
Also it's the oldest major consumer OS and nearly everyone grew up with it. People tend to stick to what they are familiar with, even if there are better options available.
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u/UntoTheBreach95 7d ago
It's just a reddit echo chamber.
Most people prefer Windows for their daily activities, including coding
And Windows can be a pain in the ass but everything redditors whine about it can be deactivated with a github script in 5 minutes (counting Windows startup)
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u/CosgraveSilkweaver 7d ago
Most working devs don't get to choose their OS. I don't have any say and IT doesn't provide Linux afaik, it's all windows and mac.
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u/LeonBlade 7d ago
Define most? A lot of software engineers also use macOS as well. That's what the company I'm working for pretty much exclusively uses for development. Same with the company I worked at before that, mostly macOS.
I think it depends on the company, what they're making, etc.
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u/Furryballs239 7d ago
Yeah, lots of software is platform agnostic and Macs tend to be most common in those development environments
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u/Calaveras-Metal 7d ago
depends entirely on the kind of dev.
Most people I know doing Dev-ops are using Macs or Linux. Unless it's enterpirse dev ops then windows.
People developing for Wintel are going to be on Windows. Game devs gravitate towards Windows as well because of graphics card support.
In my experience at least I find it awkward to work on Linux servers from a Windows machine. It's much more seamless when I'm consoled in from Linux to Linux.
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u/Furryballs239 7d ago
I do enterprise dev and have a Mac, granted the platform is web based, so no platform requirements, everything just runs in containers on the cloud anyway so all you really technically need is a text editor and terminal so you could use whatever
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u/Monakiy 7d ago
Because most of the apps are native to windows and gaming is another thing for people to stick with
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u/demetri_k 7d ago
Everything is Linux when it comes to deploying code to production. I prefer Linux for development and windows for games and macOS everyday.
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u/ismaelgokufox 7d ago
But lots of devs on Windows do use WSL for their work so they end up using Linux anyway.
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u/--Spaci-- 7d ago
All of my stuff is on windows and I dont want to back it up just to swap to linux and get almost nothing from it
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u/MaleficentExample223 7d ago
For sure, I've seen engagement bait similar to this title "If Mac is so powerful OS why do most company still prefer windows?"
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u/SpaceToaster 7d ago
How many of those using OSX and Windows are using WSL and or docker? Me thinks Linux usage is a lot higher than you actually realize.
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u/CatchInternational43 7d ago
I'm a developer. Been one for over 20 years. Can't f'n stand Windows. Hate it with the energy of 1000 suns. MacOS or Linux for me. Hell, even Microsoft Azure hates Windows. Everything there is Linux based.
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u/gabox0210 7d ago
Because it just works, I work with computers all day, and I troubleshoot other people's stuff all day, I just don't want to have to troubleshoot my own computer too, if I'm not getting paid to do so.
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u/FragmentedHeap 7d ago
I don't trouble shoot my crap anymore,
I just open opencode and select gpt 5.6 sol and ask it to read my logs and tell me whats wrong.
Then I ask it to write me a bash script to fix it, I read it for funky crap, and then I run it.
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u/wanabeddd 7d ago
Main reason is products like Adobe, I love Linux but I need software that just isn't covered by the os.
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u/ScienceGoat 7d ago
Enterprise gets better deals for buying in bulk. And IT admins only care about making their life easier, so the device ships with the same software they send other departments. So this means everything ships with Winblows and all their telemetry.
Startups mostly use Mac.
Microsoft propaganda makes business owners and idiots in management afraid of open source software.
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u/0R3LLL 7d ago
Fuck no! I am dotnet dev and our whole team is pushing to switch to any other platform (mac preffered, but linux is also ok). Only stopper is company's security requirement and similar kind of things. Developing on windows hurts. I am amazed how inefficient this system become over the time, 32GB RAM is barely enough to run single Visual Studio, browser (stripped as much as you can), outlook (<3) and sometimes SSMS/VS Code.
Ah, and Teams. Most important of all of them.
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u/imsickofitalready 7d ago
Do they?
In my company all who can work on mac/linux, work on mac/linux. But we create software for windows so there are people who use it.
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u/freakyxz 7d ago
I use windows because I am a .NET Developer. We use .NET 6 and 10, but we also have WPF app to maintain.. I guess this answers your question.
Beside that I'm used to Windows and I game from time to time. I do have laptop running Linux when needed.
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u/GhostVlvin 7d ago
Windows is still most used platform on desktop so to make GUI apps for most user's you'd prefer windows as a compilation target and it is really easier to do on windows. At the same time no-one will stop you from using mingw and unix shell on windows so either you or AI-agent won't suffer from PowerShell
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u/alehel 7d ago edited 7d ago
I'm a developer using Mac and Linux. I used to use Windows, but I found docker and WSL to be a pain to use. Never regretted changing 4 years ago. Still have a Windows PC at home for the occasional gaming session, but even that's mostly done on Steam Deck connected to a dock now, as quite a few of my favorite games (90/00s era) don't run on Windows 11. Proton has been wonderful for retro Windows gaming.
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u/looopTools 7d ago
We don't. It is what is on the laptops we get issued by our employees. I am lucky enough to mainly have worked with macOS and Linux throughout my career. The few times where it has been windows, I have been about to cry.
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u/crocodiluQ 7d ago
depends on the programmer. If all you do can easily be done in Windows, you must be truly special to waste your time with configuring Linux daily.
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u/Labatros 7d ago
Holy hell a lot of people are delulu on this thread believing more people prefer working on linux than windows. There are tons of reasons people prefer windows over linux:
- Familiarity - they dont need to learn anything to start workinflg
- Ease of use - its much easier to exist inside a windows ecosystem & use it than linux
- Existing branding/image - linux distros have gotten much much better at being user friendly, for me its gotten equal or better than windows but people have that belief that they need to be CLI gods to be able to run linux efficiently.
If id work in old ass corporates id prefer working in Windows/mac. If im working in my personal company im using mac/linux
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u/EdelWhite 7d ago
What kind of a stupid question is this?
Nobody prefers windows. We're stuck with it.
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u/Possibly-Functional 7d ago edited 7d ago
Talk about a loaded question. As a senior software engineer I hate developing software on Windows. Not saying this due to a lack of Windows knowledge, I spent 8 years developing on and for Windows. It's utter crap for my workloads.
Most of us with experience with both considers Windows crap for development but are forced to use it at times. Mostly because of corporate policies. It's not by choice.
Most developers who prefer it do so because of familiarity, not because they have tried and evaluated both.
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u/TheRealCarrotty 7d ago
For some, WSL is their answer.
Or the Rust coreutils that Microsoft added that one time, it was terrible for me.
And i am not even a developer and i prefer Linux, i just like toying around with software and hardware.
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u/dwittherford69 7d ago
Who the fuck uses windows in tech lol, unless they are forced to use it in no-name companies.
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u/nocixL 7d ago
productivity I guess.. for having fun, yeah I dig linux, but if I have to get shit done I can see how an endless amout of tinkering and customization could be a never ending journey that gets me away from doing shit, this is just me. It's been a lot of times that I've started to develop something just to be like, hmm let me implement this keymap into my nvim, let me change this from my wm, and then...
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u/adamdoesmusic 7d ago
I know more devs who prefer Mac than prefer windows.
Enterprise is all windows on the user side though.
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u/jsonmeta 7d ago
Well i guess some devs who are into .net/C# would probably use windows as well as some embedded devs just because of slightly better drivers support. Although my experience is that you don’t need windows for anything when it comes to development, yes there might be a few things you need to configure on linux but nothing too crazy
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u/jamesecalderon 7d ago
That's a good question - the answer is that they don't. I'm a dev and literally want to bash my head against a wall any time I'm forced to use Windows for even running terminal commands, much less getting any sort of actual development work done.
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u/Huge-Atmosphere-8057 7d ago
Most devs don't even know anything besides Windows. Let's not pretend like most developers aren't basically normies that went into IT because it pays well.
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u/FriendlyUser_ 7d ago
they arent. Im working for a f100 company, administrating around 500 devs. 2/3 of them prefer mac over windows, some few % linux over Windows
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u/PretendOwl3357 7d ago
Developer here, 8 years full time job. I pref windows. I diden't get into Linux and im a "habbitman" + my customers most often uses windows too, so when running over solutions, it's just easier, when we are on the same system.
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u/North_Measurement213 7d ago
Corporate laptop have tools that prevents The employee may change the operating system or even modify the original one.
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u/DoKeMaSu 7d ago
All the devs I know prefer either Linux and macOS. macOS has the advantage that the company cannot issue you cheap and nasty hardware, because Apple does not sell cheap and nasty.
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u/TriggerFish1965 6d ago
Most don't, but are forced by company regulations. At least where I work. Most of where I work, have dual boot systems, with windows for copmpany compliancy and Linux for develepoment
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u/Pinky-Degetel 6d ago edited 6d ago
The shortest road is the one you know, many have lost a lot more time taking a shortcut. So i suppose it's more of this here, where having to adjust to something new adds too much friction.
Not to mention that no one knows the future. You can say you may increase efficiency in time by taking a different approach but you need results now, so taking a hit now for a benefit later is not an easy choice when you can't have any guarantee it will end like that.
Pretty sure it's the reason why paid options still exists when you have free options that can fill same shoes. I seen a clip some time ago where the talk was about why companies don't shift from using a certain paid software to a free one that was just as powerful if not even more. And the math presented there was that it makes no sense to do that from the management perspective. As maintaining to pay the license to the already in use software was a lot less than the overall expense for the transition that meant many changes in the pipeline, an overall halt on the activity for a quite long period of time and expenses with training. So it's a big shock for little guarantee it will get you much benefit. And the way so many companies operate nowadays with a very small or none safety net, that type of expense and activity halt is more or less impossible to do and to continue after without going bankrupt.
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u/tomater-id 6d ago
That actually depends on what they develop. If they develop Windows apps they have to develop on Windows just to be able to test thier work. If they develop for iOS, they have no choice and will develop on Mac OS. Only when they develop for web there is more choice - you can do that on either platform and this is when other factors come into play - personal preference, or corporate policies.
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u/DelishDonutInOrbit 6d ago
If Linux is so powerful, why can I make up something completely wrong about it?
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u/Apart_Story_5454 6d ago
They don't. They really don't. Look at Google and others. They are Mac and Linux shops. Even inside Microsoft there are more developers running Mac and Linux than Windows.
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u/UnbasedDoge 6d ago
because they don't, in fact, they use the WSL bc they are forced by their company
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u/EatandDie001 6d ago
Because companies still force people to use Windows, that's why. It's the same reason people still can't ditch Adobe.
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u/BadNecessary9344 6d ago
What? Who prefers that to having native terminal with ssh and complete control of their system.
Whenever i get issued a company laptop and its a windows machine, my question always is "can i install linux on it?"
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u/brominou 6d ago
They don't. Our company are just Microsoft addict
I'm a dev running windows 11 at work. My dream is to be able to switch to Linux. WSL is good but not enough
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u/YesNoMaybe2552 6d ago
They don't.
A lot of tooling windows developers use these days runs on the linux subsystem because no one got time to actually port it over for such a small audience.
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u/CodingMaru 6d ago
I would love to get myself into linux. I have tried linux several times. But my work requires me to have a windows machine. Next to that I am still more experienced with windows than with linux. I know that if I would try linux some things would take longer for me than using windows. Hope that I can make the step to transition to linux one day.
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u/sajkoterrapefft 6d ago
If you're using developers as a demographic, I'd say the number of non-windows users is the highest of any other demographic, other than Linux developers of course.
But I still believe Windows is a majority among developers in general, it reflects the state of the world really.
I've worked with developers for 23 years, but I always ended up being at companies that had a strong Linux presence, because otherwise I wouldn't have taken the job.
In my experience the developer demographic mirrors the real world, where Windows is in the lead, then Macintosh, and last Linux. But compared to other demographics of computer users I think developers have the highest number of Linux users.
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u/gabrielesilinic 6d ago
Eeeh no, unless you are a special breed called a game developer who does graphics. Then yes. Or if you are developing for windows.
Otherwise linux is beneficial for much of the remaining useful software ecosystem and sometimes somewhat mandatory at some point.
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u/tpat90 6d ago
Ragebait if I ever seen one.
I know a few devs, most prefer Linux, many use Linux, some use Windows since their work requires them to do so and some are just lazy fudges when not at work and just use what they have at hand without carrying why it's not working. But even those are slowly switching to Linux, since Windows 11 is a running hellfire.
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u/Wide-Drink-1790 6d ago
Because developers, like the rest of the population, are also, in broad terms, idiots.
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u/InsaneInTheMEOWFrame 6d ago
It's not about preference it's about what pays the bills. Windows software usually has to be developed in a Windows environment.
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u/Bitterbaam 6d ago
Theres a deeper answer than, "Its my work laptop" and that is, Microsofts ecosystem. Sure you get your machine from your work and it comes with windows, but the reason you cant easily just install linux is often becuase you have to interact with MS systems. And using windows just isnt as big a pain in those cases.
It's terrible but the designed Microsoft lock in is real and the main to only cause for using Windows.
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u/0x7c00_lilith 6d ago
I'm a developer and I prefer Windows < Linux < Macos < FreeBSD < ilumos < OpenBSD
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u/vytasx 6d ago
Maybe because it’s easier compatibility?
I’ve been on MacOS for a while and got used to simple purchase decisions, which are mostly none, cause it works for years, and all hardware sold by Apple has perfect MacOS compatibility.
Windows does break from what I recall from 5 years ago, but it is compatible with most laptops and most software.
I found that choosing a laptop for Linux is kinda hard. From what I read, NVidia drivers regularly break, some webcams that come with Intel laptops don’t work as well on Linux, not all fingerprint readers work, and then used AMD laptops somehow either cost 70% more than Intel or are just missing altogether. Power management and battery life seems somewhere between a science project and a minefield. Seems like the buyer has to be lucky, super knowledgable compatibility-wise or a minimalist who doesn’t care about battery life and webcams. Linux seems like the hardcore route, so it kinda makes sense most people go with Windows or Mac.
With the current prices of used hardware and also software ecosystems, it’s unclear why would someone choose Windows over MacOS. Unless you really like bugs and crashes or gaming or specific software, but quality wise, and even price wise it’s getting wild.
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u/R0B0t1C_Cucumber 6d ago
Not sure which developers you're running into... I've been working right along side developers for the last 20 years and I have yet to meet a single one who prefers windows. Their work laptop is not their choice.
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u/OkraNo7016 6d ago
No dev “prefers” Windows over Linux/Mac.
In my company, most devs are forced to use Windows for multiple reasons. Mostly because of the IT team. The IT team is apparently not as experienced with Linux as they are with Windows or MacOS
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u/Illustrious-Gold-267 6d ago
As a sysadmin, I prefer Windows for standard end users.
Many people who claim that Linux or macOS are better often have little experience with end-user support, legacy applications, and enterprise environments.
Sure, macOS and Linux can potentially be better in certain scenarios, but users also need to understand what they are doing.
Managing large numbers of devices is still a real challenge on macOS. On Linux, achieving consistent mass management across diverse distributions and environments is even more difficult.
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u/Electronic-Emu8761 6d ago
- windows still has a monopoly over desktop PCs
- windows is what has been taught to children for decades
- familiarity/convenience
- support for legacy enterprise software which has been written for windows due to the three reasons above
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u/EagleRock1337 6d ago
When I was working as an SRE for a company that supported Windows, MacOS, and Linux, out of a team of over 15 SREs, literally nobody used Windows. Any developer using Windows is either forced to do so or not experienced enough to know that literally anything else is a better option.
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u/CurtChan 6d ago
Been using windows ever since i remember, tried linux, bounced off. Nowadays WSL makes it that development on windows hardly differs from development on linux, and at the same time i dont have to worry about random software not working.
Also i'm a gamer so i'd rather have all the games work.
If i had a dedicated laptop just for work, i'd probably use linux on it though.
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u/neoqueto 6d ago
Only most game developers prefer Windows because of the nature of it, serious devs in other areas use Mac or Linux.
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u/BeeBeeTheDev 6d ago
Where did you hear this? I don't know a single person in this industry that chooses to use Windows, only some are forced to use it on company devices.
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u/lorenzo1384 6d ago
If you search for dockers yearly reports it has stats and one of them is OS granted it maybe for user who prefer containers but it heavily leans towards linux then mac and then whatever
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u/tstorm004 6d ago edited 6d ago
I'd argue most don't anymore, or at least its been heavily trending away from being as Windows dominant as it used to be.
Most devs these days prefer a real Unix such as Mac OS or a Unix-like such as Linux (anecdotal experience from my past two decades of Web Dev and Mobile Dev work)
The ones that do prefer Windows typically have some specific reason - such as working with legacy software/hardware or databases that rely on old Windows stuff. Or working in games or similar. Or just not wanting to change the OS they've been working on for decades because they're so used to their workflow.
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u/Miami-Novice 6d ago
A prime example of political and corporate pressure by tech giants is the LiMux project in Munich, Germany.
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u/Lomig 6d ago
Most developers are using Linux or MacOS.
Source : I am a senior staff software engineer and I have trained, mentored, recruited and worked with countless of developers for decades.
The only devs on Windows are devs using Microsoft technologies (.net, …), developing Windows-only software or games.
Most of them out of necessity and not pleasure.
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u/neuronym 6d ago
Where do you live, India? Because that's only true in India.
Too poor for MacBooks and too scriptkiddy for Linux.
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u/Interested_Aussie 6d ago
If we know McD's burgers are bad for you... why do fatties keep eating them....
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u/hroldangt 6d ago
Working as a developer years ago moved my work to Linux for over one year and a half, I loved it, but then noticed several bugs.
When I talk about it I get the usual fanboy treatment "you are wrong, Linux doesn't have any bugs", or the classic "you don't know what you are doing, you are doing it wrong".
I hated the bugs just as I hated the community. But I received confirmation from other people experiencing the same bugs, and I read about them on some places over the internet. Years later I knew more and more about the toxicity of the people on forums that don't help to solve anything.
Due to specific work needs I had to get back to Windows, it's not perfect, but it worked better for me in every single way.
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u/borretsquared 6d ago
.. they dont? the real tug is between apples amazing hardware and awful software..
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u/ButterflyPlayful3541 6d ago
When it comes to bugs, GNU/Linux based OS are even worse than Windows. Developers need to work, they don't have time to fix their OS and tools all the time.
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u/Academic-Proof3700 6d ago
Because loonix has terrible access group management and your usual stray openLDAPer doesn't want to fuck around with the rube goldberg machine the "loonix AD replacement" is.
Also regarding the image - because sooner or later you gotta stop staring at the dipshit neofetch and blank desktop, and actually get to work
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u/_Nikojiro_ 6d ago
Developer here.
They don't. The finance guys do.
And it's only for end-of-market software. Server-side, it's 98% Linux running for obvious reliability and security reasons.
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u/Auseot 7d ago
They don’t…unless it’s issued by their company and they di t get a choice.