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Free/open source OSes are great programming environments that leave you in control.

As for the compatibility 'problem', install the compiler/interpreter version you need from source, use chroot if you need to, etc... If you're making apps to run on said scatterbrained systems, you can ship statically linked libraries with the app, or use a cross-platform solution (Java, HTML5, something like Haxe, etc...).

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I think a big problem with environments is the balance between "having control" and "having to control". Sometimes just getting things set up to the point where I can actually do the work I wanted to do sucks up a lot of gumption.

Every time I try linux, I lose several days in config files, and at the end, it's still not perfect, just "good enough for now".

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