Linux has just been far and away the best change I could make. I fully agree about feeling a lot more competent after getting settled into Linux. I started running Manjaro on an old laptop just so I could get used to CLI and general Linux-ness, but it never really “took” until I fully switched my primary pc to Manjaro (and then Fedora and now Nobara). I could kinda use powershell or cmd on windows when I needed to but otherwise nada. Now on Linux, I’m writing shell scripts and running most everything I can in my terminal. I feel like not having every program in existence available and adapted specifically for my OS has forced me to actually understand how my computer works and how to troubleshoot issues.
In addition, The ease of package managers means I can just try whatever software I want without dealing with the annoyance of uninstallers and cleaning up system files and messy directories. It’s easier to start de-googling as well when a lot of the convenience of google services doesn’t exist for me anymore.
I think the article was pretty clear that (1) companies that use open source projects to make money should be contributing financially to them, and (2) users and contributors need to stop feeling entitled to maintainers’ unpaid labor and time. Mostly 2 because it’s a security risk AND a shitty way to treat people who are making something free for you.