Poll HN: What operating system do you primarily develop on? • Hacker News Board

Re: Poll HN: What operating system do you primarily develop on?

#71

Post by epolanski » Fri, Nov 28, 2025, 6:35 PM UTC

maratc wrote: post #66

epolanski wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UX' been degrading on MacOS for ages. On top of that I've been locked out of my machine and Apple ID and they just kept sending me emails that in some weeks they were going to reset my password, and they sent me those emails for 2 months before I got access to my apple id and machine again, proof[1]. They just kept not obliging the "2 weeks" (which is already mad when I've given you my secret password and I've verifi…

On my work Mac, I'm not even logged into iCloud so there's no Apple ID there.

You still need it if you need to format and restart your machine if it was registered with that id.

Re: Poll HN: What operating system do you primarily develop on?

#72

Post by camtarn » Fri, Nov 28, 2025, 6:38 PM UTC

I'd prefer to run Linux, but one of my two primary dev targets requires a proprietary Windows IDE (Automation Studio by B&R). So running that on Windows then using WSL to develop for my Linux servers is the easy path.

Re: Poll HN: What operating system do you primarily develop on?

#73

Post by user432678 » Fri, Nov 28, 2025, 6:40 PM UTC

pixelpoet wrote: post #4

Finally bailed Windows this year after a lifetime of MSVC, couldn't be happier with the decision. I'm actually kind of grateful for Windows 11 being so impossibly shit and forcing so many people to finally make the switch! Now I use Arch, btw.

Mind me asking what do you use instead of MSVC?

Re: Poll HN: What operating system do you primarily develop on?

#74

Post by graemep » Fri, Nov 28, 2025, 6:41 PM UTC

Linux. I do almost entirely backend stuff that gets deployed to Linux servers so there is little reason to consider anything else.

Re: Poll HN: What operating system do you primarily develop on?

#75

Post by politelemon » Fri, Nov 28, 2025, 6:42 PM UTC

Pleasantly happy and surprised by Linux after many years. I'm not happy with the insidious lock-in that Apple and Microsoft engage in. When I'm developing I need the machine to be by own, and only a few distros provide that. I do wish to try kde though because it receives a lot of praise but just can't figure out which distro is the sweet spot, allowing for games, but good package management too.

Re: Poll HN: What operating system do you primarily develop on?

#76

Post by namblooc » Fri, Nov 28, 2025, 6:43 PM UTC

I'm surprised at the small number of Windows users. At my workplace every computer has Windows installed and we didn't really have a choice about it, although I never asked. Also, as a fullstack web developer, I don't really see why I would prefer one over the other, since they all support VSCode and I can write code on any one of them. But then again, I exist inside of an echochamber of Windows users so I'm pretty clueless on how development is different on other OSs.

Re: Poll HN: What operating system do you primarily develop on?

#77

Post by sam_lowry_ » Fri, Nov 28, 2025, 6:45 PM UTC

Dies WSL count as Linux?

IntelliJ + WSL in Terminal + Docker.

Re: Poll HN: What operating system do you primarily develop on?

#78

Post by culi » Fri, Nov 28, 2025, 6:46 PM UTC

I went from Windows to a VM running Ubuntu, to WSL, to a Mac. Each switch felt like a massive upgrade and I haven't looked back. I'm new to macs and I hear veterans complaining about the quality of the OS but compared to Windows which was adding ads in their search bars at the time I left... I guess I've just been conditioned to have a low bar

Re: Poll HN: What operating system do you primarily develop on?

#79

Post by jsheard » Fri, Nov 28, 2025, 6:46 PM UTC

petcat wrote: post #69

jsheard wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WSL2 is a full blown Linux VM under the hood, running a real Linux distro and real Linux kernel. It's Linux in every way that matters.

I wouldn't consider Chrome the "operating system" that I am primarily developing on, even though it is really the VM under the hood. Windows is really the one facilitating running the Chrome application, or the Linux WSL application.

To be way too pedantic, if WSL2 (and therefore Hyper-V) is enabled then Windows actually boots into bare-metal Hyper-V first, which then launches the Windows kernel as a VM under itself, side-by-side with the WSL2 VMs if any are installed, so if the lowest level facilitator is what counts then you're really developing "on Hyper-V". I don't think that's a very useful distinction though.

Re: Poll HN: What operating system do you primarily develop on?

#80

Post by cpburns2009 » Fri, Nov 28, 2025, 6:47 PM UTC

zwilliamson wrote: post #19

Omarchy has been a blast to use

I need to give Omarchy and Hyprland a real try at some point. I love the idea of a tiling window manager. I just haven't used one in 10 years and it's a big adjustment to classic window management.