It’s my choice but Arch and its derivatives look like the trend like CachyOS which is #1 right now on visits on distrowatch. Also I’ve heard Google use Debian as gLinux and I feel many other giants also use it and sponsor it and I’m not comfortable choosing it as my distro. Can the sponsors togethwr with students or any other interested use it for their PCs, either coding or ordinary use? It strictly promotes free but worried about giants and sponsors.
Debian has some maintenance. But if you think windows doesn’t. Your already having issue.
But Debian is one of the most documented distros. If your having an issue. Odd are multiple people have documented how to resolve it.
Linux as a whole. Requires you to have a basic understanding, of what and why you are doing things. If not you will have a bad time.
Debians biggest issue. Is the default 0 non free firmware and software. This means some drivers etc are not going to install automatically.
So for any new install. Unless you have an entirely open system. You will need to manually edit the source files. And install extra packages.
If you have Nvidia this is a big issue. Bit well documented.
The big issue is when a new version comes out. If things change dramatically. Their is a delay in that clear documentation. This continues through their testing to stable releases.
But they are excellent at ensuring security releases continue well beyond the upgrade. Years usually.
I think Debian 12 changed this and now include non free (firmware?) as default. That’s when I installed it with no issues.
You may be correct. I’m on 12 but it’s been a while since I installed.