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Comment by supportengineer | Hacker News Reader

Windows is a parasitic drag-on-the-team.

Now, if Microsoft creates a Microsoft Linux desktop OS, that would be something.

That's basically WSL.

My work laptop is Windows, and the only native applications I run on it are a web browser, Zoom, and the company's VPN software. Everything else runs inside WSL.

I greatly prefer Debian to Homebrew, so if I can't run actual Linux, this is (to me) superior to trying to develop on a Mac.

I agree that Debian beats Homebrew. But wouldn’t a persistent Debian container on Mac be better? WSL is nothing more than a container on the system, no?

The Mac hardware is vastly superior to most Windows laptops, especially enterprise Windows laptops.

With Windows 11, WSL has X and Wayland support, so you can run graphical applications as if they're native (e.g. share the same cut-and-paste buffer, switch between windows using alt+tab, and so on). It's also much easier to attach USB devices like Yubikeys to an already-running container than the last time I tried to do the same with Parallels. (That was quite a few years ago, so maybe it's gotten better.) You can also launch Windows applications from Linux, which is makes it trivial to control my (Windows-native) browser from within WSL.

I strongly disagree about Mac hardware vs. Thinkpads or Framework, but to each their own.

> The Mac hardware is vastly superior to most Windows laptops, especially enterprise Windows laptops.

Man alive, what you mean is normie "Apple-style" Windows laptops with a bit of an "enterprise" makeover. Mobile enterprise workhorses (e. g. Panasonic, Getac)? Apple has no hardware in this segment. Detachables with extended five-year warranties plus certified dual-OS support? Nothing. Some of you fruit afficionados need to get out more.

You can do that at least for CLI apps with OrbStack. Not sure if it has X or Wayland support.

My Thinkpad has CUDA and native Vulkan support, with hardware specs that are 1000 euros cheaper than getting the same capabilities on a Mac laptop.

> Windows is a parasitic drag-on-the-team.

Not in my industry. And workstations, mobile or otherwise, on the clock? You work with what's certified and available. But to be fair, "Apple people", praise the Great Maker, are utterly irrelevant here. Hardware- and software-wise.

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