That's why I stopped using Macs years ago. I kept fighting the xcode toolchain on basic things. Maybe it has improved? I don't know, but I am not ready to readjust things when 99% of the time, Debian (or Kubuntu) with KDE just works along with well-supported hardware (for laptops: ThinkPads). There are some minor issues I run into, but it is not convincing me to run out and get something else. Also, if I tinker, it's because I want to, not because I need to. I mostly use defaults myself (except maybe adding a couple of useful widgets.)

I thought at one point I still needed to use Macs (for web development work) but there is nothing special it offers at least for what I mostly do.

> Open source and free software is free only if you do not value your time enough.

I value my time sufficiently, thank you very much. Some people value their privacy more than a set of default settings, some don't see tweaking and tinkering as cost but as value by itself. Also you don't seem to get what Free Software is - it's not about getting free stuff.

> Open source and free software is free only if you do not value your time enough.

Linux works perfectly if you select the right hardware for it (which is most hardware, just got to avoid a few obscure components).

If you're a developer or use any development tools at all, Linux is easily the best platform and will save you time. If you host anything on the internet, odds are it's a Linux host.

And even if you're just a regular user, if you don't need a specific piece of obscure software, Linux is super low maintenance as long as you didn't select that small amount of hardware that doesn't work.

Open source and free software is free. Even if you value your time.

Sorry for being a pedant.

No one has claimed you would have to pay for open/free software. But, as with everything else, you need to calculate the total cost of ownership. And there your personal effort or your efficiency comes into play.

Yes but having choices doesn't take time, only using them does. Picking one OS over the other because of many options is basically saying "I can't have choices because I can't stop myself from using them". What takes time is having an OS you have to fight because it refuses to do what you need it to do because of some decision taken by Apple. When that happens MacOS gets extremely expensive in time.