After a long stint on Windows, I’ve finally decided to make Linux my daily driver again.
Looking back, my history with Linux goes all the way back to my school days. It used to be my go-to. But once I entered the professional world, I drifted toward Windows. The reason was simple: I didn't have the time to tinker. In a work environment, you just want things to work: office apps running smoothly, no interruptions, no headaches. Windows felt "safer" because it just worked without demanding much of my attention.
As a software engineer, though, moving back to Linux has been relatively seamless. Most of my workflow is already centered around the terminal anyway. Running package managers, managing repos, and configuring environments via the command line is just part of the daily grind. There’s a certain sense of freedom that’s hard to describe when you can customize your desktop environment exactly how you like it and actually feel connected to the system you're using.
But, of course, using Linux as a primary system has its downsides too.
The classic issues still pop up: compatibility. It gets frustrating when you run into outdated documentation or when the kernel doesn't immediately recognize your hardware. A prime example is my SteelSeries Arctis 7+ headset. On Windows, every feature is right there. On Linux? They aren't fully available. It’s not a dealbreaker that stops me from working, but it definitely eats into the overall comfort.
Then there’s the big temptation that always trips me up: the rabbit hole of tinkering. Instead of just blasting ahead with coding, I often find myself spending hours tweaking my window manager or testing new scripts just to make the system feel "perfect."
Even so, I don't regret it. I feel more at home in the open-source ecosystem. Not everything has to be seamless or effortless. Sometimes, a little bit of friction actually gives you a sense of ownership over the tools you use.
More another time.