In my group we use linux exclusively. This is done for a number of reasons, chief of which are that it works best with the best tools for our work, and because I can provide you with limited IT support if you are using Linux. Any other OS and you’re on your own.
So here’s a list of tools that we use on linux and what we use them for:
Writing — latex when possible, libreoffice when not, and WPS when we must deal with office documents.
Spreadsheets — gnumeric (always ask yourself whether a spreadsheet is a good idea — often sed/gawk is better)
Plotting and fitting — gnuplot
Simulation/general maths — Octave
Programming — Python (2.7)
Computational chemistry framework — ECCE
CAS — Maxima
File sharing — UMU has 1 Tb storage for each staff member on One Drive via Office 365, so while it’s not great on linux, this is what we use.