Linux DISTRIBUTIONS have their own set of problems. There are a lot of reasons to run Windows that aren't games. For example, the level of support you get for server-based stuff is very nice as a corporation. It's also more consistent. No, I don't mean "correct" all the time. I mean with Windows things fail consistently (well...except for drivers) and things work consistently. It's far more polished.
As a Linux daily driver it's not hard to see the benefits of Windows over a popular Linux distribution. You may be able to close the gap with a (rather expensive) support contract but at that point you also may have been better off with Windows. Using a Linux distribution is often a time commitment and change of philosophy. I, like you, are willing to make the trade.
I notice this opinion (that Windows is terrible) to be particularly pervasive among the tech literate but inexperienced. There is an entire contingent of the US alone (probably 80%) that is completely and fully served by a simple, easy to manage, easy to use Windows installation. If you've never tried to get your parents to use Linux even Ubuntu is often asking too much (though its getting better). That's not their fault. Once again, switching to the Linux Way (TM) is a lifestyle. Just your example alone (the UI is cleaner) can diverge into something almost worth an entire collegiate degree. It's only recently with snaps that Ubuntu and Co. have approached a degree of usability that might constitute 0.5% or less more uptake.
Perhaps for your use case Windows sucks. But having recently ported off Ubuntu LTS to the latest and greatest I can tell you that it was miserable. There's nothing quite like repeatedly crashing to a tty and having to parse boot logs to figure out what screwed up. It's a suffering I am willing to do both for the philosophy of Linux and the benefits I get. The further away from "consumer" Linux distributions you get the graph of difficulty goes hockey-stick real fast.
Let's not pretend Windows is useless spyware. It is nasty stuff for privacy but it is certainly not pointless.
Using windows for servers is plain wrong and usually reserved for the inexperienced, and you stating the opposite is just a projection. The only issue in linux is with proprietary software that microsoft intentionally limits to its own os.
Lol, I put Windows Server 2012 on an old laptop over a decade ago and basically never had to touch it until it goes EOL soon. Remote management was RDP.
Windows Server is great if you don't want a second job as a SysAdmin
>The only issue in linux is with proprietary software that microsoft intentionally limits to its own os.
Ah yes, quicken is Windows only because Microsoft is paying them under the table, and has nothing to do with the six users you will have on a linux system bitching and moaning about every product decision you have made because it doesn't work in their extremely niche windowing manager that they swear by because they want to look like a hollywood hacker. Meanwhile the only stable API on linux for enterprise software is Win32, because expecting every user who's just trying to do their damn job learn how to administrate a Linux system that still pretends we live in the 60s and text only terminals are the way of the future is absurd.
As a Linux daily driver it's not hard to see the benefits of Windows over a popular Linux distribution. You may be able to close the gap with a (rather expensive) support contract but at that point you also may have been better off with Windows. Using a Linux distribution is often a time commitment and change of philosophy. I, like you, are willing to make the trade.
I notice this opinion (that Windows is terrible) to be particularly pervasive among the tech literate but inexperienced. There is an entire contingent of the US alone (probably 80%) that is completely and fully served by a simple, easy to manage, easy to use Windows installation. If you've never tried to get your parents to use Linux even Ubuntu is often asking too much (though its getting better). That's not their fault. Once again, switching to the Linux Way (TM) is a lifestyle. Just your example alone (the UI is cleaner) can diverge into something almost worth an entire collegiate degree. It's only recently with snaps that Ubuntu and Co. have approached a degree of usability that might constitute 0.5% or less more uptake.
Perhaps for your use case Windows sucks. But having recently ported off Ubuntu LTS to the latest and greatest I can tell you that it was miserable. There's nothing quite like repeatedly crashing to a tty and having to parse boot logs to figure out what screwed up. It's a suffering I am willing to do both for the philosophy of Linux and the benefits I get. The further away from "consumer" Linux distributions you get the graph of difficulty goes hockey-stick real fast.
Let's not pretend Windows is useless spyware. It is nasty stuff for privacy but it is certainly not pointless.