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Operating system reflections post.
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#+title: A Reflection on Operating Systems
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#+date: 2021-11-13
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*macOS. Windows. Linux. It's all bad.*
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Clickybaity line aside, it's worth digging into the "Big Three" when it comes to operating
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systems. Over the years I've used them in various forms and versions, on personal desktops,
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production servers, work laptops, and so on. I've seen both the good and the bad for most
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of the operating system choices discussed, but I will in no way claim to be an expert. Before
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going any further, it's worth doing a quick rundown of Linux distributions I've used.
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- Ubuntu (various versions over the years)
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- Arch Linux (A favourite of mine)
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- GNU Guix
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- NixOS
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- Various Ubuntu-based distributions
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Specific versions aside, I've been able to watch Linux distros evolve over the past ~9 years.
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Along the way I've used Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11 (Vista is in there somewhere, but my memory is
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fuzzy), and macOS/OSX versions.
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All these choices have various upsides and downsides. This particular post is motivated by
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a recent change in my life; after years(ish) of running Linux on my desktop, stubbornly
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refusing to install Windows, I finally did it. I switch to an operating system that makes
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me feel less in control of my desktop. An operating system with very strange bugs that
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should not exist ([[https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/11/expired-windows-11-certificate-breaks-some-built-in-apps-and-tools/][like snipping tool breaking due to an expired certificate]]). An operating
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system that just does its own thing, and is still incredibly expensive.
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Gripes about Windows aside, the change I made was mostly for reasons related to gaming.
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Gaming on Linux has come a /long/ way, to the point it was almost second nature to be
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playing relatively recent AAA games on it. There was also a sense of trying to wrestle
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Linux - towards the end of my journey I was using NixOS, which is an excellent declarative
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operating system [[/posts/from-guix-to-nixos][that I've covered before]]. While the package repository it offers is very
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complete, there were a few instances where I found myself needing to reach for the unstable
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package repository, or debating whether to write my own Nix packages, or diving into long
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GitHub discussions about a specific issue. I found myself with little energy to actually
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persue these things, with my job as a Software Development Engineer sucking up what
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motivation/eagerness I had to deal with technical issues. How I ended up on NixOS is
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detailed on the aforelinked (that's not a word, but work with me on this) blog post,
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with did not help with my frustrations with Linux on the desktop. Eventually this
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built up into a crescendo of the Windows 11 install screen and self loathing.
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I'm not proud of this move, nor particularly happy, but at the very least WSL has come
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a long way from the initial versions, now supporting fancy things like GUI apps (I'm
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currently typing this in emacs running in WSL, which is still a bit weird to me).
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#+ATTR_HTML :title emacs on Windows in WSL :alt emacs gui running from WSL
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[[file:/images/emacs-on-windows.png]]
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Jetbrains editors also have okay support for WSL, so it's feasible to do what little
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personal development I do these days in a mostly complete Linux environment.
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macOS isn't something I feel neccesary to touch on here since it's a fairly personal post
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about my journey, but for the sake of completion it's worth mentioning it's been my main
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work OS and I do have my share of complaints about it. Primarily, window management is
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very cumbersome without a third party application. While I haven't run a tiling window
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manager in a while, I do like having the option of arranging my windows in that way.
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I've opted for [[https://rectangleapp.com/][Rectangle]], which works well enough that I an satisfied and not wrestling
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the urge to buy an application.
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It may seem that the summary is that macOS has the fewest problems, but it does still suffer
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from being the most locked down of the three choices (I /know/ Linux is a kernel, not an
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operating system itself, but most Linux based operating systems are pretty similar and covering
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them under "Linux" is just easier). I'm not neccesarily worried that Apple is going to kill
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the ability to install third party applications on their desktop and laptop platforms, since
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those are a mainstay of those platforms, but every so often I do wonder what that could look like.
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Windows is an "okay" middleground of "flexible enough to do everything" and "closed enough that
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I don't have to spend too much time DIYing solutions". When you run into problems on Windows, you'll
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have to wrestle for control to maybe fix it, but it may be possible. On macOS, good luck - you're
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at the mercy of Apple's priorities and a reinstall may be in your future. On Linux? It's a 50/50
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chance of that issue being totally unique to your hardware and/or software combination - good luck
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(but at least you have the opportunity of fixing it yourself and contributing to the community).
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Overall I do want to return to Linux. But given my recent frustrations with it, I'm going to hold
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off until I'm either in a position or mindset to contribute properly. Linux has a long way to go
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on desktop, but I desperately want it to succeed. The sooner we stop relying on closed platforms
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the better (we just need to sort out the UI/UX crisis for FOSS). For the time being, I'm going
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to explore Windows 11 and what it offers for developers, and keep trucking along with macOS as
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a work environment as long as my employers offer it.
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