You're forgetting people going to college who's colleges require certain software or even permissions for all kinds of things like turning in classwork to taking proctored quizzes etc.

Even highschools and middle schools do things like this now. Sometimes on hardware owned by the school, but yeah even on hardware owned by the individuals.

I actually mostly really love Linux. I think if all you do is surf the web, stream, and maybe use chat services or email, Linux would be perfect for you.

But then again, so would a Chromebook.

I use Linux for gaming but I'm not trying to play games that have kernel level anti-cheat, and most of the games I play are indies, or retro games.

I fully recognize that my experience with Linux isn't everyone else's and while I agree that a majority of non-business windows users can probably switch to a Linux distro and be perfectly happy, most people use windows because it already came with their hardware and they don't have to do anything to keep using it.

There's still some barrier to entry, even though with every change like this one that MS makes, that barrier is getting flimsier and flimsier.

And for every great guide to fix a Linux issue that I find, there's an equally bad guide that assumes that someone has a base knowledge of a certain level and doesn't give step by step instructions.

Windows guides give step by step instructions with pictures and terminal/command line commands that you can copy and paste. Almost never ever see an article with "just open up the terminal and run " blah blah blah" on windows. But I see it all the time from Linux users.

If we want people to switch, we need to make content for newbies. We need to lower that barrier to entry. Not just with guides on how to install either.

Gamers don't need Windows.

I hate Windows and I'm very much aware that we should avoid it if possible. I have been using Linux Slackware then Debian for decades, but since I'm a tech guy and it's "what I do", I help if possible. However I warn anyone asking for help with Windows that I don't like it, it may cost more, there are other alternatives, this is not what I prefer, and I'm gonna bitch and whine. And over the years I have successfully convinced a few people asking my help, to use Linux. Usually I just install LMDE for people that only do light stuff, and it makes helping them so much easier.

In that case the person is running a business, with accounting software that runs only on Windows. Outlook and Office are also huge tethers and switching to Linux was not really an option for now. Maybe in the future. Maybe Windows 11 will prove to be more problems than its worth and we'll try run the accounting software in wine and find solutions to the Office addiction. But so far the easiest course is unfortunately to try Win 11 first, try to debloat it, and... see.