Why I would use a linux/unix based OS over Windows

Before you go get your pitchfork and start lynching me, let me just explain that this article is on the topic of web development, and that I too use windows (primarily for playing games) on a daily bassis. Sorry for the click-baity title.

The short answer

It’s simply a lot easier on a linux based OS, as all the tooling is designed to work on it, with extra steps to get things working in Windows.

If you want to develop in windows, it oftens makes more sense to have a VM in which the code and tools resides.

Explanation

There’s a very good chance if you’re writing code for the web, more often than not you’re going to communicate with servers that runs something in the realms of Unix.

So depending on what you do, you might have an edge on Unix-based operating systems like Linux or OSX.

Windows blows (bite me!) for any development that’s not .net. It’s just not worth all the hoops you have to jump through to try make in behave like it’s Linux counterpart, such as getting the right version(s) of VS for compiling things. or manually adding entries to PATH.

An honorable mention is WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux),
Problem is, whenever something goes wrong in your code, or the tool, you can never really be 100% sure whether it’s a bug in the tool, your code or the linux implementation.

Drawbacks

It’s a completely other story if you need to do something else with your computer, like image manipulation, being a photographer.

Linux is like the old flame you keep going back to every once in a while, but it always flatters to deceive with compatibilitý issues after each major upgrade.

And who said linux is user friendly?

Linux is user friendly it’s just very picky about who its friends are.

– Unknown

Conclusion

Personally, I find MacOS to be a good compromise, as long as the purpose is for development/programming,

At the end of the day, just remember there’s nothing wrong with using Windows, nix, or MacOS. Do what you love, use what you love.