I struggle to even comprehend Windows 11 and WSL2 as the "best nix environment" as they are by definition not a nix environment, as Windows 11 is the base OS.

I guess if all you do is web dev work and can live entirely in docker containers/VMs, but I work on hardware dev (usb, i2c, spi busses) and the closest thing to a virtual environment I get is python venvs. My Desktop OS must run on bare metal, period.

But if that's the case (web dev), then desktop app compatibility doesn't really matter anyway, beyond front-end testing in native browsers -- easily done in VMs.

I run Manjaro and FreeBSD desktops and Mac Laptops and have literally dropped Windows-based systems from compatibility with our USB instruments because of how bad the hardware support for USB/serial devices is and I just don't want to support it. 80% of our customers use Mac-based laptops anyway, and most industrial users just use industrial raspberry pis to work with out equipment.

FreeBSD is my preferred Workstation OS for my python-based development as it forces me to think multi-platform in a way Linux just doesn't. It also has some very strong *nix design philosophy behind it, making it rather enjoyable to develop for.