[BeetleB]

I thought that way before my current job. I learned the error of my ways. In companies like mine, you'll get a Linux account on a server, and will not have root privileges. So you're quite limited on the SW you can easily install (try installing Emacs with all its dependencies from source).

Since then, whenever I shifted teams, I'd pick ones where I don't have to use Linux. At least I can customize my Windows laptop easily, and Emacs works just fine on it.

[wink]

That's a weird experience. 100% of companies I worked for (or where I worked with a customer's computer, so not just 3-4) it was:

Windows = managed, user account, pain (sometimes exceptions for developers, sometimes not)

Linux = you have root on your machine.

[BeetleB]

My windows laptop is "managed" in terms of forced IT updates, etc. But I can install whatever I want and have Admin privileges. They do scan the SW and if they see obvious problems (installed a SW that is not free for commercial use), I'll get an email about (show proof that the team purchased a license).

I can't make deep changes (e.g. reinstall the OS), and would likely get in trouble for disabling the antivirus, but there hasn't been anything I wanted to do on it that I couldn't.

[phendrenad2]

This really bothers me when I see it. I've had coworkers who used Linux. Like you say, IT mostly left them alone. They had root and were free to install anything. That seems like a huge security hole. Keeping Linux, especially desktop Linux, patched is non-trivial, and I wouldn't leave that up to the average web developer.