My lesson was to just use what moet people use. But then again, I always used PostgreSQL even though most were on MySQL
That far back mysql and postgres were not even close to being a like-for-like comparison. One was a proper database, with things like referential integrity and a type system that didn't count the 31st of February to be a valid date, and the other was a glorified ndbm with some structure, a SQL interface, and was very very fast at running simple single-table SELECT statements.
Because they would just use a SQL library or ORM which hid all of these details.
Funny, my lesson was nearly the opposite: Don't try to use something that's popular but that meets my needs the best.
I used Mac for a long time but i got allergic to opinionated software. Tried Ubuntu for a while but hated the "not invented here" and commercial motives (eg even distributing small console stuff in snaps). I'm now very happy with FreeBSD on my primary desktop.
But of course my needs and things I care about are different.
So if you're just editing text, it doesn't matter if most people are using emacs, because you can use vim too. But I guess for running an OS, FreeBSD has had too many pain points for many people compared to just going with the Linux crowd.
For editing text, I only use vi.. It's available everywhere and I know my way around it.
I'm glad postgres became popular :). The reasoning around using what many people use is that software is generally more available..
Maybe I'll give FreeBSD another swing in the future, but I'm not sure what the state of containers is. I used jails back in the days, but I'll have to do some research on that.
