via @makefu
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I thought this was a really thoughtful review that many users of other distros would find useful. It also reminded me of some of the ways the emphasis on reproducibility and other values in the Nix community has translated for me into what it’s actually like to use NixOS, and how that feels.
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If you don’t yet know which desktop is right for you, and you want to explore, to learn, to add programs, try them, remove some of them, and so on, NixOS is almost certainly not for you.
I’ve always thought the opposite to be true. With a “traditional” linux distro (I mostly have historical experience with *buntus and arch), you might be able to install different desktops, but after installing and uninstalling a few, you’ll end up with a mess of config files that got created and not removed, and a bunch of packages that got installed as dependencies and not removed (A lot of the time, you’re looking at reinstalling from scratch to get back to a clean system). On NixOS, you might end up with some config files in your home directory, but system-wise, if you want to go back to a clean slate, you just edit your config to remove the desktops and / or applications that you tried but didn’t like, rebuild and switch, and you’ve got a clean system running your chosen desktop.
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