[case0x]

I think the article encapsulates the problem perfectly.

When I started to switch from Windows to Linux, I've constantly changed distros picking whatever I saw "cool" people in my online circle use. I switched between Ubuntu, Debian, Arch and it's 100% FLOSS siblings all the time, sometimes using a distro just for one or two days.

It is a stupid Endeavour as you have no time getting used to your environment and so you lack the skills required to solve any problems that occur.

What fixed my habit was actually having to use my laptop for university, where I ran Ubuntu, and later at work, where we used Fedora. It helped me get used to it and tailor it to my needs.

Recently, I've switched at home and work to MacOS ( couldn’t resist the new M1 chips). It fulfills my requirements and works like a charm.

[andrelaszlo]

I went with Ubuntu when I switched from Windows some time around "Dapper". Stuck with it until "Karmic" or something like that. I only switched to Arch because I was getting tired of the big upgrades, and not having the latest versions of things I needed for work.

This decision makes sense for me and for the laptop that I use daily as a developer. It doesn't make a lot of sense for a regular user, and even less for a server environment.

Is it really so complicated? If you have very specific needs, you'll know what to look for. If you're not that special - why not just go with something common until you see what limitations you can live with and which ones are deal-breakers?

I think a lot of "distro hopping" is also just being interested in the OS itself. I don't see the problem.

[dagw]

It is a stupid Endeavour

Installing and switching between a half dozen distros (plus a couple of BDSs and Open Solaris) when first learning to use *nix really taught me a lot about all kinds of different aspects and philosophies of the *nix world and getting all those distros to actually install and run gave me lots problem solving skills.

Now I've settled on Ubuntu, been using it basically exclusively for the past 10+ years (minus a short affair with Arch a few years ago) and have no plans on switching. But having that initial experience with lots of different OSs was very educational.

[case0x]

Quite interesting to see how our experiences differentiate as I never got the chance to really understand what I was doing or what is going on but maybe that depends on our different approaches when switching distros

[noisy_boy]

As a long-time user of Ubuntu (and derivative distros) who has always wanted to checkout Arch, what made you get back to Ubuntu from your fling with Arch?