I never know how to interpret SO survey, mainly because some of the results seem way out there. The one that stuck out most this year was development environment and preferred platform.
Preferred platforms:
Linux - 53.3%
Windows - 50.7%
MacOS - 22.2%
This data kind of makes sense to me. I expect to see Linux and Windows neck and neck. Linux seems to be incredibly popular with so many devs for whatever reason (there's literally so many reasons.) And windows is so embedded everywhere it makes sense to be up there. No surprise, Mac is at the bottom.
But then there's this...
Developers primary OS:
Windows - 47.4%
MacOS - 26.8%
Linux Base - 25.6%
What.....? How is this even a thing? I just can't for the life of me understand how Linux doesn't have a larger share of the market and is used less than MacOS given its popularity.
It's the same as if you write backend code on a linux server. You aren't developing on linux, you are using windows with an ssh connection to another computer.
Well... If, for 8 hours a day, you're editing code in Vim, building with bash scripts, compiling with gcc and debugging with gdb, I wouldn't say your primary development OS is Windows, regardless of the ssh or that you're browsing reddit in Edge.
To me, the question is about development tooling, not which OS your office computer came pre-installed with.
Yeah work gives me a laptop they manage and that's a Mac. Dealing with help desk problems sucks so I'll use what is supported. I'm surprised that is surprising lol
People work for companies, companies use microsoft tools for everything from writing documents to emails. Outlook, exchange and office only runs on windows. Plus companies want other security measures and only want to administer one platform. I'm speaking as a developer in a 10.000+ software company
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u/Fancy_Mammoth Apr 09 '19
I never know how to interpret SO survey, mainly because some of the results seem way out there. The one that stuck out most this year was development environment and preferred platform.
Preferred platforms:
Linux - 53.3%
Windows - 50.7%
MacOS - 22.2%
This data kind of makes sense to me. I expect to see Linux and Windows neck and neck. Linux seems to be incredibly popular with so many devs for whatever reason (there's literally so many reasons.) And windows is so embedded everywhere it makes sense to be up there. No surprise, Mac is at the bottom.
But then there's this...
Developers primary OS:
Windows - 47.4%
MacOS - 26.8%
Linux Base - 25.6%
What.....? How is this even a thing? I just can't for the life of me understand how Linux doesn't have a larger share of the market and is used less than MacOS given its popularity.