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Rishav Jadon
Rishav Jadon

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Windows or Linux/Mac : which one is better for development?

Which one is better in terms of workflow, developer experience, etc?

Top comments (21)

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andrasbacsai profile image
Andras Bacsai

I'm a huge Linux fan/user for 10 years now. I used it everyday on all of my development machines.

I bought my first gaming pc at the beginning of this year, so I've installed Windows on it.

But I thought maybe I could use it for work as well, as it's an 'MHz Monster' - if you know what I mean :). And WOW. I was so surprised how well WSL2 integrated into the operating system. I do not even see that I'm on a Windows machine. I can install whatever I want on the Ubuntu running in WSL2. VSCode is also connecting to that WSL instance. Perfect.

I'm also running some of my development environment in docker, which is perfectly working.

I recommend testing it!

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rjitsu profile image
Rishav Jadon

Wow that's cool to hear. I'm on windows and I've always wanted to explore linux

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Martin Jablečník

I prefere Linux. You can customize it, choose from various environments, setup own shortcuts and have more workspaces which I am using a lot for better management of my work. Windows are too binding for me.

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syedumaircodes profile image
Syed Umair Ali • Edited

I prefer linux for Development.

Give WSL2 a chance also

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Samuel Abreu

With a powerful enough machine, its irrelevant, with WSL2 and even using virtualization you can have everything from Windows on linux (and vice versa).

But on low end machine, definitely linux, less bloated and easier maintenance.

As i have to work on apple products im using mac @ work, except xcode all tools i use works well on linux.

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Luis R. Anaya

I have coded in Linux and Windows and my personal preference is Linux just because that's the platform that target platform work related tasks is Linux (I also coded in MVS/zOS but that's beyond the scope of this exercise). Both have each strengths and weaknesses, therefore better is a somewhat relative term. In my case, what drives my choice is the target platform.

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Dorian C

I've been using all three and it's quite similar. You may loose more time here and there on linux but overall it's the same. At this point, I think it's more about personal preference / workflow on your project (docker / VPN access only on windows / etc) and also your feeling regarding closed source system.

I'm mainly talking about web development of course.

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cadams profile image
Chad Adams

Currently use Mac for work but I prefer Linux :)

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Lorenzo

Hello! If you're interested you can find other people's opinion here: dev.to/devlorenzo/windows-or-mac-4f8k

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Justin

For Me Linux

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David Hernández

Windows with WSL 2