been thinking about an old joke that #unix is "user-friendly, but very selective as to who is a friend"

think i want to extend this analogy

#windows is someone who is very friendly to everyone at first, but will keep trying to change the way you live every once in a while, often in ways you may personally dislike, sometimes at a great cost -- and while it's possible to push back on some of these demands, others are completely non-negotiable and can cause serious problems later if rejected or delayed

#macOS is a friend who has very specific tastes and gets really annoyed if you have other friends outside of their circle. you look at how macOS's friends look and act so similar to each other, and wonder if macOS really has that good of a taste that everyone else agrees with them or if this is turning into some kind of cult -- especially since being friends with macOS requires quite significant expenses

#linux is definitely selective about who can be their friend, has unusual hobbies and interprets things way too literally, but if you can be friends with them, they'll trust you very much and demand very little (mostly in terms of attention). they'll understand if you don't live in a nice apartment and can't go to fancy restaurants with them every time, and will get along with most (though not all) suggestions of where to hang out or what to do