You're absolutely right about how the grievances against the company should be factored in. You've formulated it very well and I entirely agree with you.

To be clear, what puzzles me about this community is the fervor you mention about Linux. In my own experience, and while giving Ubuntu the benefit of the doubt out of frustration with Windows, I personally found it to be exceedingly disappointing. I don't think it's fair to say that I'm among the lucky ones to have few issues with Windows, because distilling my experience with Linux, I might draw sweeping generalizations about Linux as a whole.

While I, too, encourage everybody to try Linux, I would caution them to set their expectations accordingly. In my opinion and experience, Linux is tailored towards an audience of users with more time to troubleshoot problems and a willingness to accept a lower quality bar (for a lack of better words) in exchange for distancing themselves from the corporation behind it.