I think it's fair to argue "the costs/drawbacks of using NixOS as a desktop outweigh the benefits".

But, I think that discounts the value of enthusiastic tinkering, and learning a complicated technology.

Nix is unusual and relatively difficult. This makes it difficult to recommend in many settings. But, if you're interested in learning it, spending time to try it out as a personal desktop (where there aren't external deadlines or requirements of reliability) is a decent way to explore it.

It's similar to how vim or emacs have a steeper learning curve than vscode. It takes more effort, but you get a power-user experience out of it.

> Nix is unusual and relatively difficult. This makes it difficult to recommend in many settings. But, if you're interested in learning it, spending time to try it out as a personal desktop (where there aren't external deadlines or requirements of reliability) is a decent way to explore it.

I was originally interested in Nix and NixOS on servers, and started running it on my main desktop at work in order to force myself to really learn it, as a way of jumping in with both feet.

I think it worked well, and I ended up really enjoying it.

* * *

If you only use things people already created environments for it's pretty great.

But try to compile and run a random C program you found on the internet on NixOS and that complexity immediately becomes apparent. Because there is no "system library" set for NixOS you have to create the environment needed for every single thing you do. If it is a very popular thing than someone else will have done it. If it is not, as is the case in most situations, you end up having to create the environment yourself via config. A huge extra layer of complexity and work before you even begin to attempt compiling.

By the time I started using NixOS, I'd already decided that the only way for me to install software on a distro was via the package manager. So when I want to run something novel, I generally package it, regardless of distro. (For quick and dirty testing of binaries, of course, an escape hatch or a hack is fine.) I love using openSUSE's public instance of the Open Build Service to easily build and distribute my own packages when I'm using non-NixOS in some situation, and would not hesitate to use or create a hosted one in an enterprise context.

So for me, NixOS doesn't add too much complexity because my minimal complexity commitment is covers much of what NixOS 'adds' anyway. But this story:

> If you only use things people already created environments for it's pretty great.

doesn't end at that layer, and in fact it essentially recurs deeper down!

When it comes to packaging with Nix or crafting environments, what's popular is usually easy, and what's easy is really easy.

But when you go off the beaten path... you're going on a journey. Maybe a short one, but possibly a long and painful one.

For me, Nixpkgs and NixOS have grown so much since I first started running NixOS on desktop (like 8 years ago, now!) that such work is rare enough for me that I hardly think about it. But you're quite right that the additional complexity is there, and it can be discouraging and draining when setting up software environments in that way is new to you, or when you just don't wanna do it.