KnoLord

Current student here (CS, so sadly not in your field):

In my case, college/university actually made sure, I and many others would be using Linux as their main system. The computer lab is using Linux (Ubuntu 22.04 mainly) although Windows machines (mostly for beginner courses) and Macs (for stuff like Final Cut Pro and other Apple exclusive software) are available and many courses are either requiring or putting mainline support towards Linux.

Document wise - we were taught LaTeX from day 1 and are expected to have at least the knowledge to utilize the given .cls files. Sharing documents is rather a free-for-all: When LaTeX is required for the course, either Overleaf or the university git is the choice for group-work, otherwise there aren’t requirements for using .docx files or other files.

Hope I could give you an insight, although not in your field.

https://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/

At least Ubuntu makes it easy to roam through their archives. Have fun :)

My journey was very uneven:

Windows (for many years) -> Ubuntu (for 2 months, dual-boot) -> Windows (for about 6 years, because of some very specific software + pre-Proton gaming) -> Linux Mint (for about a month) -> popOS (for almost a year) -> endeavourOS (now, but always on the look-out for new stuff)

But in between the “main” journey, there was always some stuff trying out, like Void (on an old PC), Arch (inside a VM, now use that VM as a lightweight environment for testing some stuff out)

It’s not really FOSS, just the software-equivalent of CC-BY-NC or CC-BY-NC-ND.

I personally also welcome this change, as I have changed that setting anyway and of those people I know, they also changed that behaviour immediately. But as long as you can change it and it isn’t forced on you to only use one method, it’s great.

Well, my experience was always on and off: In the past, I always had my phases of trying it out, be it dual-booting, or outright replacing my OS, but always went back to Windows after a couple of months at most due to some software being Windows-only and both VMs and WINE not being sufficient.

But this year, with Windows continuing to get worse (built-in ads, the fact that it eats 60+ GB on a base install, etc.) and me needing Linux for uni anyway: I made the jump and thanks to the work being done with stuff like Proton for games and FOSS software now being good enough for general productivity, I’m happier than ever.

Obsessed? I like customizability and being able to tinker around, but in the end, it’s a tool like any other.