Comment by arcologies1985
18 days ago
Using Linux as a teenager led to a step change in my family's generational wealth, some incredible personal and professional relationships, and life-defining opportunities for work and travel. I think at this point it's solidly wrapped up in my identity.
That's fuzzy and all, but still not good. Being an uncritical fan of something, even when it's to your detriment, isn't something to be proud of.
As far as I can tell it's never been to my detriment. (I don't push others to use it in contexts where it's not my paid job.)
I also consider myself an uncritical and proud fan of handwashing and daily toothcare. Is that bad?
But you don’t define hand or tooth washing well enough. A pithy response means little if we haven’t broken down the comparison into appropriate component parts for meaningful comparison.
The other question is, is it even worth it? These things have worked for you well enough up to this point, all three. That’s fair and valid.
The question might be is it worth the cognitive friction to change those things? I change the way that I brush my teeth, and now my overall health is better perhaps. Perhaps my mouth biome changed over decades, while I was unaware. A better way involves changing a habit, getting some new technology, and even this simple change may have knocked on effect in the rest of my life if I have a tight schedule and rigid habits, which benefit me. Is the trade-off worth it? Can we really know?
I’m not a surgeon so I don’t have an extensive method of washing my hands. However, some people don’t even wash their bodies more than once in a while. Science has discovered that this is probably healthier over the long-term, but other people simply take a shower and scrub scrub, scrub every single day. They say it benefits them, but the facts point to otherwise. They have a hard time changing that habit or believing the facts.
Same applies to an OS. Sure, looking backwards it has been good, but will it continue to be? Is it worth the cognitive friction to make those changes though? Honestly? For you, probably not at this point. But who is to say? Could what you have learned be leveraged in a different OS and bring you even more of what you feel benefits you? I suppose only you can know this, and that’s totally OK.
Past returns are no guarantee of future performance, in short.