I think privacy concerns come into it.
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Yes, but not in a debate of Google vs Bing or Yahoo. DuckDuckGo is supposed to be privacy friendly, but their backend is Bing many times.
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The number one platform for Python programming is Windows.
A quote from the PyCharm Blog.
“Linux remains the most popular OS among Python developers, especially for professional and server-side work. However, Windows is still used by over 50% of Python developers, particularly among beginners and those in educational or enterprise environments.” — The State of Python 2025 | PyCharm Blog
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So is the search engine backend not a privacy concern?
It can track what you do.
I think it depends what sort of programmer
Scientific programmers ( mainly C, Fortran, R) like Linux… sometimes for historical reasons… like it was the first OS to have a flat address space with 64 bit addressing.
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Python is the #1 language for Data Science.
Here’s a snapshot of programming language trends from 2005 to 2025, based on simulated TIOBE Index data and corroborated by recent rankings2:
Popularity Trends (2005–2025)
Python: Explosive growth, especially post-2015, driven by data science, machine learning, and education. It now leads the pack with over 24% share.
C: Once dominant, C has gradually declined but remains vital in systems programming and embedded development.
Fortran: A steady niche player, still relevant in scientific computing and legacy systems.
R: Slow but consistent rise, reflecting its adoption in statistical analysis and academic research.
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Data crunching is only one aspect of scientific computing.
The other big areas are modelling and algorithms.
I think younger programmers are tending towards python., because it an easier startup.
I found it disorganised compared to R.
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It’s not that hard, believe me!
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Oh well, found out I had points collected a long time ago.. maybe I’ll seotch to Bing. The only thing that actually interests me are the donations, here in CH we have much less available stuff to spend points.
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Maybe, in case the selection is theirs. Whether Python is a reasonable selection to start programming is another business.
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When DuckDuckGo anonymously forwards my search to Bing: for DuckDuckGo, I hope they do not track me; for Bing, I’m sure they do.
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I did some years ago on DOS. The manuals used to be good
There is worse.
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For me, the real issue was the use of faulty libraries, TBH.
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So did the world end, did all windows computers stop, is the internet still functioning as before … did anyone notice a big stop sign.
Guess not life goes on and it will be interesting in a few weeks or months the use of 10 against 11 in global stats
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No! I only heard the prayers of all those Windows evangelists. 
That is an interesting word. I read about people taking on this roll for Linux or Mac (never windows) but it always makes me think of a church and religion rather than computer stuff
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I can remember, in CP/M having to rewrite a Fortran library routine in 8086 assembler. It was to do with random access I/O and the official version was simply wrong.
This highlights the importance of open source. There is no fix if you cant access the source code.
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Very true! I remember fixing three bugs in Microsoft’s early MFC framework and some other libraries written in C.
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I donated my points to the Python Software Foundation for a couple years. Then that was dropped as an option. I haven’t found another home for my points. My future plan is to “cash them in” for an Amazon gift card and buy a computer.
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I also hope this is the case, but just remember: Nothing ever happens.
This is what will happen. And hackers currently in possession of Win 10 zero days will probably wait until the Win 10 security patch EOL to use/sell/disclose these zero days to maximize the number of machines that can be infected.
This will only affect new machine sales that come pre-loaded with the OS. That’s why it is crucial to get stable distributions pre-installed on machines at the store.
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my .02: I still provide some support to a small business. About 20 Windows systems in a Domain. The average user there has the computer IQ of a house plant. They are not aware of updates or support, only that the firewall blocks X. The IT department (now mostly outsourced to a very good outfit) takes care of that. The principal does run a MacBook. Most of their systems can be “upgraded” to W11, the rest will be replaced. The replaced systems will be wiped and given to an outfit that ships them to countries like Guatemala. I think most businesses have far too much invested in the Windows ecosystem to switch to anything else. Most of their employees use the same type systems at home, they follow Microsoft’s bouncing ball.
I have written several Office add-ins for them, those don’t run on any of the Linux Office stuff. I have a couple of Linux (Debian) systems down there, mostly supporting surveillance cameras, the IT outfit doesn’t support surveillance stuff. They also don’t support the AS400 support stuff running in the ESXi server (Windows VM’s).
I have a friend who still runs W10, never bothered to look into updates or such, asked me about anything he didn’t understand. I talked him through installing the 1 year extension that is free. I told him to just kick the can down the road until next year and then buy a new system, there may be some bargains. BTW, he still runs Office 2000 on the W10 system. He only uses Word, he is an author. I only run Windows in a VM, my Debian system running VMware workstation (since version 4) has the TPM 2 chip and my ESXi system also has the chip and can support W11 if I use VCenter. Only do enough on Windows to support the company and run my surveillance cameras (Blue Iris).
On the lighter side, I just got Nextcloud running on a Raspberry Pi 5 with 2 nvme drives in a RAID 1 mirror. Look Ma, I have my own cloud (not a very fast one).
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