I'm a bit surprised to read it - for me I configured my system years ago and it just "keeps working" (I very rarely need to edit my configuration, for trying new programs I just spawn a nix-shell). Though I agree that first time doing anything has an additional cost - for example configuring my HP printer was maybe three lines of nix code, but I had to spend some time with forums to write them. On the other hand, I now just reuse these lines everywhere and don't have to think about it at all. For me that's a lot of time saved. It's entirely possible you're using OS differently than I do, and cost/benefit calculation is different for you.