When learning technology, I’ve tried to seek out projects that will be around for a long time.

The origin story

I used to be a Windows/MacOS user like you, but then I took an arrow to the knee.

Windows was the default. What I - and probably you - grew up with. Not a concious choice, just a matter of fact.

Then I “emanzipated” myself and “graduated” to MacOS. In the early 2010s, you were some kind of hipster if you used Apple. But the main selling point was the “it just works”. However, after some years of being an Apple apostel, I was burnt. My MacBook Pro broke and my frustration with Apple grew.

So I looked elsewhere and my gaze fell onto GNU/Linux. I installed Linux Mint as my first distro on an older machine. Tough daunting, it wasn’t so bad. And paired really well with my efforts of learning how to code and how computers work.

Proprietary software vs. open source software

What really appealed to me with Linux was the open source nature.

This difference - that the codebase of the Linux Kernel is open source, while Windows and MacOS are not - became a litmus test for me. Why even bother with software, that I can’t control? Am I an end-consumer that doesn’t understand what is happening, or am I a sovereign individual?

If you don’t control your tech-stack, your tech-stack controls you.

At first I was petrified: Which software do I use? But quickly found out that there is a whole ice-berg outside of the shiny, official app stores by the big companies. The landscape of open source is almost limitless. Because it is open, and there are no barriers to entry.

Moreover, open source software tends to be more robust and secure than proprietary software. Read more arguments in the amazing booklet “The cathedral and the bazaar”.

Open source allows you to tinker and customize everything to your preferences. It is an immense increase in personal sovereignty.

Open source is hard to kill, because it only takes one lunatic to host the code.

In times where advertisements are everywhere and your data is the digital oil for 3rd parties, open source grants transparency. An open source codebase can be audited as to what is acutally going on behind the scenes.

Hard mode: Open source is not enough

While open source has become a buzz word, it’s important to know that not all open source is the same. Famously, Richard Stallman made the distinction between plain open source and free libre open source software (free as in freedom), aka FLOSS.

The emphazise with FLOSS software is the sovereignty of the user. This is the antithesis of the contemporary dominance of Silicon Valley and the creeping influence of Chinese tech companies.

Why yes, of course I FLOSS.

Running completly on FLOSS is significantly harder than just relying on FOSS. Some hardware drivers are proprietary, and if you want to avoid those, you will be significantly limited in the hardware you can use. Personally, I’m not religious about using only FLOSS. But if I can help it, FLOSS it is.

The tech stacks I chose

But enough with the abstract words. To me the tech that fulfills these requirements is:

  • The linux kernel: Thousands of contributors, has been around since the 90s, on countless devices (including servers and mobile)
  • The GNU utils: Learning these empowers you to use any UNIX system - super powerful and truly timeless
  • The Emacs editor: Invented by the Stallman himself, has been around since 70s, with a hardened community of power users
  • Vim motions: Vi has been around since the 70s and has a mode-based text-editing experience. With vim motions a text document becomes a different playing field. If this is new to you, then go watch this gem.
  • Nix: nix is many things, amongst others it is a functional programming language that allows you to specify packages and their configurations for your systems.

These are some examples of technologies that I invest my time in. Technologies that I learn with joy, because I know that learning these things will serve me for the rest of my life.

Yes, the road, especially initially, is hard. But it gets easier. Things actually make sense after a while.

Conclusion

When you are at the cross-road to learn a new technology, ask yourself:

  • Is it open source?
  • Will it be around for a while?
  • Is it worth the time invest?

And have the courage to look elsewhere if you answered these questions with “no”.

This simple principle will pay dividends as your knowledge grows.