<p>And yes I will double down on it! If you want to do any software/hardware dev. Do yourself a favor, install any Linux distribution onto the computer you have, and daily drive it. You will learn a lot, and you will be much better at computers and problem solving in general. For the rare few things you actually need windows you can dual boot your machine. But the more stuff you try to do on Linux instead you will be better at computers. Break out of your comfort zone!</p>