Can you please clarify what exactly is expensive and requires windows as far as .net is concerned?
Compared to 2016 the development and hosting experience for at least Linux (can't speak to Macs) has gone forward by a country mile. You can develop practically for free (no need to visual studio license since vs code exists) and target Linux environments during build so no need for windows server either.
The experience isn’t as good in vscode (I haven’t used rider, but it costs money anyway, so still expensive) as it is in full fat visual studio.
At work, I use windows and full visual studio. At home, I use Linux and vscode.
Also, Rider is free if you apply for an OSS license (if you use it for FOSS), or have your company pay for it if you use it professionally.
While the former may be missed by some, I long ago adapted and prefer to normal folder and file navigation, and for the latter there are other extensions to browser the tests. The ability to run/debug specific tests is already included in the base C# extension, while project management is actually easier via CLI the same way you do it with Rust's cargo (dotnet new {templateName}, dotnet new sln, dotnet sln add/remove, etc.).
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