I’m a junior backend software engineer. I use a Vim plugin on my fancy code editor. I like the command line but I’m not all in on it or anything.
If I was a Windows user I’d switch. But being a Mac user I have a lot of what I need for software development.
What am I missing out on? Genuine question.
At the end of the day you should use what you prefer. As for why I use Linux, it comes down to the core design philosophy. Apple designs their products for the happy path. Stray from that and you’re going to be fighting the OS for every inch. Linux is designed for hackers (as in the original term, not security). It not only allows you to do what you want, but encourages it.
As an example, consider the number of window managers available on Linux. There are the two big ones that are closer to the “happy path” (Gnome & KDE), but there are also dozens of other mature options. i3. bspwm. sway. Xmonad. Awesome. There are so many options, and for the most part you really can stitch your OS together from the parts you like. Except for systemd… but that is a whole different conversation.
There are plenty of other reasons I use Linux for everything I can, but that’s the selfish one. And it’s why I feel downright uncomfortable using anything else at this point.