In 2005 I made the switch from Windows to Mac as my primary working environment. In 2018 I made a similar switch to Linux. In both cases, the change was somewhat gradual, and the process was the same. In 2005 purchased the newly released Mac Mini and set it up on my desk to the side. Over a few weeks I got comfortable with MacOS, and eventually, my Windows computer was moved to the side. The same happened at the end of 2017. I purchased a Meerkat from System76, which has a similar physical profile as the 2005 Mac Mini. It too sat to my side as I became familiar with the Linux desktop experience. Linux is now my primary os.

Why switch? For me, it was practical reasons.

Knowledge. 80% of my computer time is spent doing web development on a LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and Apache). Linux is at the core of my local development environment, as well as, the server environments my websites run on. Like most Drupal developers, I'm doing more DevOps, all of which is based on Linux software. The primary reason for my switch was to spend more time in the Linux environment to improve my Linux knowledge and skills.

Hardware choices. While I'm an Apple fan and will continue to use a Mac and iOS devices, they frustrate me. My daughter still uses her 2010 MacBook Pro, that's possible because I could upgrade the RAM and change the hard drive. The hard drive has been replaced twice, first an upgrade to a 250 GB hard drive, then a 500GB SSD. I believe that was the last Mac Book you could upgrade. Moving to Linux gives me unlimited choices in hardware. Desktops and laptops configured how I choose and they can be updated and modified as I need them to.

It's Possible. Linux distributions and open source software has matured to the point that it's possible for me to use Linux exclusively. I'm currently using the Pop_OS Linux distribution. From a user interface perspective, it's as elegant and powerful as Mac OS. While it lacks the level of integration of the Mac, it's refreshing to have less integration. It feels lighter and less bloated. What about MS Office? Libre Office is a fitting replacement. I discontinued my Office 360 subscription. I'm finding that Linux could also use the tagline "there's an app for that."

Performance. Linux on current hardware is fast.

I don't believe I'll switch back to Mac, but who knows!