Arguably, it requires the LLM to have access to the source code during training. If it's closed off (like Windows), then the LLM can't train on it.

Even if the source code's old, the fact that it is publicly available makes it much easier to train & improve on than if it were walled off.

It's at least specific to open source, in my experience. Ask it about some commercial software: it searches some lacking documentation, social media discussions and make some guesses. Ask it about an open source tool: it searches the documentation, if not it dives into the implementation to figure out the edge case.

> Is that specific to Linux?

I don't think their point was about knowing the stack, but being able to point a harness at something running on your desktop GUI and say "change this".

Being able to edit and recompile pretty much any part of the OS and userland (often not even needing to reboot!) is not something that can be said about Windows for sure, or even lots of things on Macs too. Or even when the browser is effectively the operating system, the JS/TS others write is also hard to change in your end.

The more open the operating system the more LLMs can help you. This is what Arch Linux was waiting for all along.

I used to be afraid of Arch, because I don't want a system that takes work because I'm already busy with work. But now I love it, because the LLM can tweak every knob and fix every issue for me, so it ends up being the OS that takes the least work to use. Get an error message? Tell the LLM and they fix it. Something not working exactly like you like it? Tell the LLM and they tweak it for you. This also works to great effect on Win and Mac, but not to the same extreme degree as it does on Linux and especially Arch.