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HN bubble alert! I think most programmers are actually using Windows as their development environment. https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2020#technolo

HN bubble alert! I think most programmers are actually using Windows as their development environment. https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2020#technology-developers-primary-operating-systems https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2020#technology-de...

chrisseaton 4y ago
Even the developers I know at Microsoft use Linux or macOS!
- throw5653 4y ago
  You were just shown statistics that disprove your idea that almost nobody codes using Windows... over half of the developers who answered StackOverflow's survey are using Windows. Pointing at more anecdotes around you does not change this fact.
  - chrisseaton 4y ago
    Maybe Stack Overflow skews to Windows developers? I don't know how good their data is. It's hard not to look around with your own eyes and notice that you never see anyone using Windows - like I say, even the Microsoft ones! Do you meet a lot of developers using Windows? What kind of circles is that in?
    - kroltan 4y ago
      In game development, it's all almost exclusively Windows, and Mac if developing mobile games.
    - kcbanner 4y ago
      I think you may have quite a large blind spot here. The games industry is primarily Windows based.
    - towawy 4y ago
      "The survey must be bad because it doesn't fit my optics" is an awful take.
      - chrisseaton 4y ago
        Most surveys are skewed to a particular set of users who choose to fill it in! SO is one of the few examples of a major developer site that runs on Windows, for example.
        vips7L 4y ago
        The Jetbrains survey also shows majority of developers working on Windows.
        majou 4y ago
        9 days late, wanted to point out that mac and linux have vim and emacs :p
    - ripley12 4y ago
      Games, security, finance, and a mindboggling number of companies writing line-of-business software. "Dark matter developers" is a term I've heard used for some of the latter: https://www.hanselman.com/blog/dark-matter-developers-the-unseen-99 https://www.hanselman.com/blog/dark-matter-developers-the-un... I would generally say that native Windows development is in decline, but it's a long slow decline and it's starting from an incredibly high base. "a rounding-error of zero" is so wildly incorrect that it is very clear you are in a bubble of sorts.
- int_19h 4y ago
  I work at Microsoft, and the majority of people I know use Windows for development. Macs are around, but they seem to be more popular with the managers than with the devs. (It can be different in some teams - e.g. lots of Macs in VSCode - but company-wide that's an exception rather than a rule.)
255kb 4y ago
Definitely. I created a popular dev tool, and more than half of the users are using Windows. I'm also a front-end dev using Windows since decades, and I had like 0 problem using this OS.
izolate 4y ago
That looks like global statistics. Of course most developers in the developing world aren't using MacOS. I'd be interesting to see the OS breakdown when selecting for just the developed world. I'd imagine Windows percentage is much lower. Also, looking at some strictly web development surveys, Windows is behind Mac/Linux: https://medium.com/codex/jetbrains-django-developer-survey-results-explained-211c06237a34 https://medium.com/codex/jetbrains-django-developer-survey-r...
hajile 4y ago
Bad statistics alert! If you use windows, you are VERY unlikely to use Linux and OSX. Conversely, almost EVERYONE who uses Linux or OSX will still have to use Windows. If even just half of the Linux users checked Windows, but rarely used it, then Windows would drop to 3rd place. The overwhelming majority of servers are Linux (even Azure was announced to be majority Linux a few years ago). Despite this, only a fraction of "windows users" also used WSL. Trying to build UNIX software on Windows is fraught with difficulty. The fact that this number is so low either indicates a sampling bias for Stackoverflow or a lot of people checking the Windows box despite not using it a lot.
- dahauns 4y ago
  Why should half of the Linux users check Windows when asked "What is the primary operating system in which you work?"?

chrisseaton 4y ago

Even the developers I know at Microsoft use Linux or macOS!

throw5653 4y ago
You were just shown statistics that disprove your idea that almost nobody codes using Windows... over half of the developers who answered StackOverflow's survey are using Windows. Pointing at more anecdotes around you does not change this fact.
- chrisseaton 4y ago
  Maybe Stack Overflow skews to Windows developers? I don't know how good their data is. It's hard not to look around with your own eyes and notice that you never see anyone using Windows - like I say, even the Microsoft ones! Do you meet a lot of developers using Windows? What kind of circles is that in?
  - kroltan 4y ago
    In game development, it's all almost exclusively Windows, and Mac if developing mobile games.
  - kcbanner 4y ago
    I think you may have quite a large blind spot here. The games industry is primarily Windows based.
  - towawy 4y ago
    "The survey must be bad because it doesn't fit my optics" is an awful take.
    - chrisseaton 4y ago
      Most surveys are skewed to a particular set of users who choose to fill it in! SO is one of the few examples of a major developer site that runs on Windows, for example.
      - vips7L 4y ago
        The Jetbrains survey also shows majority of developers working on Windows.
        majou 4y ago
        9 days late, wanted to point out that mac and linux have vim and emacs :p
  - ripley12 4y ago
    Games, security, finance, and a mindboggling number of companies writing line-of-business software. "Dark matter developers" is a term I've heard used for some of the latter: https://www.hanselman.com/blog/dark-matter-developers-the-unseen-99 https://www.hanselman.com/blog/dark-matter-developers-the-un... I would generally say that native Windows development is in decline, but it's a long slow decline and it's starting from an incredibly high base. "a rounding-error of zero" is so wildly incorrect that it is very clear you are in a bubble of sorts.
int_19h 4y ago
I work at Microsoft, and the majority of people I know use Windows for development. Macs are around, but they seem to be more popular with the managers than with the devs. (It can be different in some teams - e.g. lots of Macs in VSCode - but company-wide that's an exception rather than a rule.)

255kb 4y ago

Definitely. I created a popular dev tool, and more than half of the users are using Windows. I'm also a front-end dev using Windows since decades, and I had like 0 problem using this OS.

izolate 4y ago

That looks like global statistics. Of course most developers in the developing world aren't using MacOS. I'd be interesting to see the OS breakdown when selecting for just the developed world. I'd imagine Windows percentage is much lower. Also, looking at some strictly web development surveys, Windows is behind Mac/Linux: https://medium.com/codex/jetbrains-django-developer-survey-results-explained-211c06237a34 https://medium.com/codex/jetbrains-django-developer-survey-r...

hajile 4y ago

Bad statistics alert! If you use windows, you are VERY unlikely to use Linux and OSX. Conversely, almost EVERYONE who uses Linux or OSX will still have to use Windows. If even just half of the Linux users checked Windows, but rarely used it, then Windows would drop to 3rd place. The overwhelming majority of servers are Linux (even Azure was announced to be majority Linux a few years ago). Despite this, only a fraction of "windows users" also used WSL. Trying to build UNIX software on Windows is fraught with difficulty. The fact that this number is so low either indicates a sampling bias for Stackoverflow or a lot of people checking the Windows box despite not using it a lot.

dahauns 4y ago
Why should half of the Linux users check Windows when asked "What is the primary operating system in which you work?"?