---
title: "Linux is free if your time is worthless"
url: https://perrotta.dev/2025/01/linux-is-free-if-your-time-is-worthless/
last_updated: 2025-01-06
---


([via Andrew Montalenti](https://amontalenti.com/2025/01/05/linux-is-free)):

> One of my favorite old Linux jokes is, "Linux is free… if your time is
> worthless." This quote is possibly adapted from a jwz interview dating back to
> 1998. In it, he said:
>
> > I think Linux is a great thing, because Linux is an alternative to [major
> > operating systems], and because, of all the operating systems that are at
> > all relevant today, Unix is the best of a bad lot. […] As we all know, Linux
> > is only free if your time has no value, and I find that my time is better
> > spent doing things other than the endless moving-target-upgrade dance.

Snark aside, that's a good read.

Ever since ["Cloud Native"](https://www.cncf.io/) became mainstream, developer
userspace tools became more valuable than whatever OS flavour you choose to run.
So pick [whichever you like](https://kevquirk.com/blog/on-virtue-signalling),
work hard, and have fun.

And yes, 2025 is finally the [year of the linux desktop](https://yotld.com/)[^1].

[^1]: Or is it?