I have to say, I don’t think I’ve been this pleased with an operating system since macOS Snow leopard.
My desktop is set up just how I want it. I get updates right away, occasionally they’re so so but that’s the price of being bleeding edge. Gaming works remarkably well. (On x11 with Nvidia) Programming is good as you would expect from Linux also not having to deal with flatpack or snaps in that regard.
Vector art, though I’m not used to krita yet works really well as well.
Honestly, most operating systems I have something I always have to complain about but I can’t find that with Garuda Linux.
While people say you can do this with any distro that uses the desktop environment you like, the community for Garuda Linux is unlike any of them. Helpful and quick to respond. I’m not saying they are all bad. Some are just a little bit too Rtfm when all you want is a simple answer for a simple problem that the manual does not explain in such a way that makes any sense to your problem.
All in all, it’s been a great year with Garuda linux and I hope it continues for years to come.
Happy new year!