My Linux story goes way back to the early ’90s as a student studying computer science, and then in the late ’90s, when I was working professionally with SCO Unix System V Release 4, and UnixWare 7. That’s where I first found appreciation for the elegance of Unix. When Linux began making waves, I jumped on Red Hat around 2000, then explored Ubuntu and Debian a few years later. Fedora caught my attention (I loved its pace and experimentation), but around 2005 I settled on openSUSE. It felt right. It had commercial polish, stability from exhaustive testing, and the flexibility I’d always appreciated in the old Unix systems. openSUSE is home for me.
What’s changed over the years is the world around Linux. Vendors like Lenovo now ship laptops and workstations with Linux preinstalled, treating it like a serious mainstream option, not a technically intimidating choice just for tech enthusiasts or developers. At the same time, friendly distros like Zorin OS and Linux Mint give newcomers a real and approachable entry to Linux; a viable alternative to Windows without sacrificing usability. Gaming support has also leaped forward, with Steam games often running as well (or better) on Linux. Not to mention that almost all of our devices, and almost every web and app service we interact with is hosted on Linux. And on the other side, Apple’s base-spec Macs have become affordable enough that macOS is a realistic option, not a luxury.
This stands in stark contrast to Microsoft’s intrusive Co-Pilot everywhere (more interference than help); the TPM requirement pushing perfectly good hardware into obsolescence prematurely for the forced Windows 11 upgrade; and the recent Microsoft account requirement at install. By contrast, macOS doesn’t require iCloud (though the user experience is diminished without it). At least iCloud offers actual integration benefits within the Apple ecosystem and doesn’t feel like a nanny state.
macOS came into my life mainly for music production but also as my work desktop environment. If there’s a network emergency after hours or I have to help Administration with something urgent, I simply can’t afford to fight through Windows problems … waiting indeterminately for updates, slowdowns, freezes, crashes, inconsistencies, etc. macOS, with its Unix roots (Mach Kernel with FreeBSD components), and high level of refinement is simply in a different league.
When recording audio with complex multi-channel sessions, macOS just works. Linux handles simple captures fine, but once you push it … multiple tracks, plug-ins, effects chains, etc. … you run into kernel limits and driver quirks. These manifest as latency issues, real-time processing problems, distorted audio, and dropouts. Still, Linux remains my personal daily driver. I value the freedom it gives me, the sense of owning my machine, how it gets out of my way and lets me focus on my task, and its quiet reliability.
The Musing Pilgrim 