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.