Raja Patnaik A Love Letter to Omarchy
Your operating system is holding you back, and you probably don’t even know it. Whether you’re trapped in Apple’s ecosystem, suffering through Windows’ bloatware, or settling for Ubuntu’s safe mediocrity, you’re missing out on what computing in 2025 should actually feel like. DHH’s Omarchy made me realize we’ve all been expecting far too little from our machines. If I’m going to start a blog, I might as well begin with the revolution that made me give a damn about my OS again.
After decades of bouncing between operating systems like a digital nomad searching for home, I’ve finally found my place. It’s not in the walled gardens of macOS, the corporate corridors of Windows, or even the friendly neighborhoods of Ubuntu. It’s in the beautifully orchestrated chaos of Omarchy — DHH’s opinionated Arch Linux distribution that has sparked my joy for Linux again.
And I am not alone:
The Philosophy That Changes Everything
Omarchy isn’t just another Linux distribution trying to mimic its commercial cousins. While Windows keeps adding layers of cruft to maintain backward compatibility with software from the Clinton administration, and macOS increasingly treats power users like children who need constant supervision, Omarchy embraces what Linux should have been all along: unapologetically different, blazingly efficient, and respectful of its users’ intelligence.
Even Ubuntu, for all its merits as a gateway drug to Linux, still plays it safe. It wants to be the comfortable middle ground, the Switzerland of operating systems. Omarchy, by contrast, takes a stand. It says: “This is what a developer environment should look like in 2025, and we’re not compromising.”
The Hyprland Revelation
The moment you boot into Omarchy’s Hyprland environment, you realize you’ve been living in the stone age. Windows 11’s window management feels like trying to organize papers while wearing oven mitts. macOS’s Mission Control is a pretty slideshow compared to the surgical precision of Hyprland’s workspace management. Even Ubuntu’s GNOME, as polished as it’s become, feels sluggish and mouse-dependent by comparison.
With Hyprland, your fingers never leave the keyboard. Super+Arrow keys zip you between workspaces faster than you can blink. Window tiling isn’t an afterthought or a third-party hack — it’s the core philosophy. Every pixel on your screen serves a purpose. No wasted space on decorative window chrome, no bouncing dock icons begging for attention, just pure, undiluted productivity.
The AUR Advantage: Software Paradise
Here’s where Omarchy’s Arch foundation truly shines. While Windows users hunt through sketchy download sites and fight with installers, while macOS users mortgage their homes for App Store purchases, and while Ubuntu users compile from source because the official repositories are three years behind, Omarchy users live in abundance.
The Arch User Repository (AUR) is what every app store wishes it could be. That obscure command-line tool mentioned in a blog post? It’s in the AUR. The latest version of that development tool that just dropped an hour ago? Already packaged and waiting. No more adding PPAs in Ubuntu, no more Homebrew gymnastics on macOS, and definitely no more Windows registry nightmares.
Performance That Respects Your Hardware
Boot Omarchy on a ten-year-old ThinkPad and watch it fly. Try that with Windows 11 — oh wait, you can’t, because Microsoft decided your perfectly functional CPU doesn’t deserve to run their bloated OS. macOS? Unless you’re willing to perform dark magic with OpenCore, Apple decided your three-year-old MacBook is already obsolete.
Omarchy treats your hardware with respect. It doesn’t phone home to report your every keystroke. It doesn’t run mysterious background processes that consume 4GB of RAM to provide features you never asked for. It does exactly what you tell it to do, nothing more, nothing less. My 2015 laptop feels faster running Omarchy than my colleague’s brand-new Windows machine running Microsoft’s latest digital paperweight.
The Development Environment That Just Works
DHH didn’t just throw together some packages and call it a day. Every tool is configured, themed, and integrated. Alacritty terminal with perfectly tuned colors and fonts. Neovim with LazyVim configuration ready to go. Git aliases that actually make sense. This isn’t the “blank slate” philosophy that makes vanilla Arch intimidating — it’s an opinionated, thoughtful setup that respects your time.
Compare this to setting up a development environment on Windows: Install WSL2, fight with networking, realize Docker Desktop is eating all your RAM, discover that file permissions are completely broken between Windows and Linux, give up and install a real operating system. Or macOS: Install Xcode (8GB download), install Homebrew, wait for Apple to break everything with the next update, pay $99/year for the privilege of running your own code.
True Ownership of Your System
When Apple decides to deprecate a feature you rely on, tough luck. When Microsoft forces an update that breaks your workflow, deal with it. When Ubuntu switches to snaps and suddenly everything takes thirty seconds to launch, just accept it. But with Omarchy? Your system is yours.
Every configuration file is readable, editable, and under your control. Don’t like something? Change it. Want to add something? Go ahead. The entire system is transparent, from the kernel to the window manager. This isn’t just open source as a buzzword—it’s open source as a philosophy of computing freedom.
The Aesthetic That Inspires
While Windows 11 can’t decide if it wants rounded corners or square ones, while macOS retreats further into iOS-inspired blandness, and while Ubuntu’s orange-and-purple aesthetic remains frozen in 2010, Omarchy is genuinely beautiful. Eleven curated themes out of the box, each one thoughtfully designed. The terminal isn’t just functional — it’s gorgeous. Your desktop doesn’t just work — it inspires.
This isn’t the riced-out, anime-wallpaper Linux of stereotype. This is professional, elegant, and modern. It’s what happens when someone with taste decides to show what Linux can really look like when you stop trying to copy everyone else.
The Community That Gets It
Perhaps most importantly, Omarchy has attracted a community of people who understand what computing should be. These aren’t people who tolerate their operating system — they love it. Join the Discord and you’ll find 3,500+ enthusiasts sharing configs, solving problems, and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Try getting that level of enthusiasm in a Windows forum (spoiler: they’re all complaining about the latest forced update).
The Future Is Already Here
37signals isn’t just endorsing Omarchy — they’re going all-in, switching their entire operations and development teams to it over the next three years. This isn’t a hobbyist distribution that might disappear tomorrow. It’s the future of professional development environments, backed by the creator of Ruby on Rails and a company that actually builds things.
While Microsoft pivots to being a cloud services company that happens to maintain an operating system, while Apple focuses on selling $3,500 headsets, and while Ubuntu… well, while Ubuntu continues being Ubuntu, Omarchy is laser-focused on one thing: being the best possible environment for people who create software.
The Bottom Line
Switching to Omarchy isn’t just changing operating systems — it’s changing your entire relationship with your computer. It’s acknowledging that you deserve better than the compromises and concessions of commercial operating systems. It’s joining a movement that believes computing should be fast, beautiful, and under your control.
Yes, there’s a learning curve. Yes, you’ll spend time configuring things. But that time is an investment in a system that will never betray you with a forced update, never slow down because shareholders need you to buy new hardware, and never treat you like you’re too stupid to understand how your own computer works.
Welcome to Omarchy. Welcome to what computing should have been all along. Once you experience the speed of Hyprland, the elegance of a properly configured terminal, and the freedom of actual ownership, you’ll wonder how you ever tolerated anything else. Your keyboard will thank you, your CPU will thank you, and most importantly, you’ll thank yourself for finally breaking free from the comfortable prisons of conventional operating systems.
This isn’t just another Linux distribution. This is computing enlightenment, one Super+Arrow keystroke at a time.
Thank you for reading, and welcome to my blog!