HN user
I haven't used Windows in years. But I used it for a long, long time at work. And I became more proficient with Windows after I learned Linux.
You don't need Linux for anything, but learning it can make you a better programmer.
According to this person, KWrite is better than Emacs and Emacs is a bug. In my opinion, this makes his post a little less credible. The rules that he suggests we all learn for how to use tabs and spaces in a file are helpful, but only when you're forced to use tabs. Otherwise, using spaces is always easier when you have to share your code with people that are not required to use KWrite.
Out of curiosity, I wrote a simple non-optimized quicksort function in Common Lisp (SBCL) and timed a 180,000-element sort at 567ms, about half as much as the Java version. I'm sure that could be improved greatly with better coding and type hints.
Here's the code http://donnieknows.com/blog/sbcl-fast
I think in extremes:
If you're a computer and software user, OSX is the way to go.
If you're a hacker, you can code in more than 10 programming languages, and you've been writing code for more than 10 years, then you'll be way better off with Ubuntu.
If you're somewhere in between, stick with OSX.
Forget about Windows for now. But don't be surprised if they come out with something truly wonderful some day.
No degree. I've been programming professionally for 20+ years. Usually better off than my peers salary-wise (since the beginning). Generally regarded as the best amongst the programmers I know personally (which is a bad thing, in my view). Started several companies. Most failed. One sold. Have had a 9-5 job for the last 3 years (telecommuting from home). Title: Senior Programmer Analyst. Actual Work: developing new products (programming).