Web Browsers and Operating Systems

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People like to speak about whether they use MacOS, Windows or Linux and I think that for a long time this was a great question because what we did on computers required programs and apps that could run on that system. In 2024, however, I believe that the OS barely matters anymore.

The reason for this is simple. Whether you use Windows, MacOS or Linux a lot of what you do is in a web browser and web browsers are standardised so that most websites look and behave the same across platforms. As a result, once you have a browser installed the OS is less important.

OS does matter for Final Cut Pro X and other specialist apps. If you’re editing with Final Cut Pro X then you need a mac, and if you’re gaming then for a long time you needed a PC. Recently though, as discussed in a Late Night Linux podcast gaming is shifting towards Linux, so Windows and Linux machines are good for gaming, whilst MacOS is good for design and more, but even then some CAD programs are better on Windows.

If we use Davinci Resolve, KDenlive and other software options then we can be on all three OSes and just choose the one that is most convenient to our work flow.

If we’re dealing with e-mail and web apps then windows, MacOS and Linux are equivalent. For Threads, Facebook, Linkedin, Gmail and more they behave the same on all platforms. The same is true with Visual Studio code and other apps.

Although we may be tempted by the newest nicest Macbook Pro, if what we’re doing is in browser, then we can save money, and slide between operating systems freely. I slid from MacOS to Windows to Linux with ease, and for a while a Pi5 was fine.

A 100 CHF setup is as good as a 2000 CHF laptop, for browsing the web and blogging.