Superiority brings controversy

Because of the ginormous community, every problem has a solution in Windows.

If it isn't a Microsoft sanctioned solution, then multiple third party solutions exists that fix it.

Windows has a hell of a lot more support than any Linux distribution does.

Ok, something didn’t work, I now have to figure out what driver wasn’t supported and what I need to download.

Unlike in Windows where you never need to download drivers. As executable binaries you have no chance of checking. Sometimes from very questionable sources. And actually you can be happy if it's only a driver. Installing random 3rd party tools just to get basic functionality is a thing.

people on forums are helpful

Which also happens for Windows. But rarely. And if they really try... then there are still 10 different answers to a single problem and you have to test which one works for your specific version (no, chosing the most recent one sounds logical but is rarely the answer).

Now I gotta figure out this command line thing. Oh cool some people built GUIs for certain stuff so i don’t need to play with the command line

Which in what way is worse then editing random obscure values in the registry? Because it's a window you type in. And in the worst case even the Windows help starts with poweshell nowadays, which is exactly the same.

And then at some point I got stuck because of file permissions.

That's a solveable problem. Unlike in Windows where they put file permissions on top a file system not having them in a weird unintutive way. And don't ever try to change the wrong permission as an administrator as that's simply not allowed. After all you don't own your Windows PC, MS just gratiously allows you to use it.

So, you see... it's all a matter of perspective.

Trying to use proprietary drivers and NTFS on Linux is trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. People work hard to make it work and maybe it does with a little effort but the proprietary model and Linux distros just don't mesh well together. If you make it a point to purchase hardware that has open source drivers and use open source software (and as a consumer, you probably should anyway), everything does just work. Obviously this may not suit your use case and Linux may just not be for you.

If I was in your situation, I would try installing openSUSE or Fedora Linux on a computer where you don't care if the entire disk gets wiped occasionally, using a flash drive you also don't care about getting wiped occasionally. They probably have sufficiently comprehensive installers and installation instructions for you to succeed in using one of them, and if you don't care about the content of the disks you use you'll be more willing to experiment with the installation process (even though it's unlikely your computer will work worse due to trying to install a Linux distribution). If you use a computer that has become slower and less usable than you'd like you will probably be pleasantly surprised by the results!

Also, you can back up your product keys and prepare a Microsoft Windows installation disk if being able to go back to Windows 10 makes you more comfortable with experimenting.

Overall, Linux enhanced my ability to to get productive work done, and also the opportunity to experiment and learn more about how to use computers to solve problems. I think learning how to use a GNU operating system is a good long term investment, though if you still need to keep around at least one computer that runs Microsoft Windows to protect your income I won't disparage you.

Hey, how'd you see what I've done to my Android phone?

Cause this exactly describes what I do to it. Then I get weird conflicts. Lol. I do it to myself.

I was primarily noting that I usually don't engage in unnecessary and unproductive customization, as there will always be some way you could meet your desires a little better, but unless you're creating and documenting an automated system like https://larbs.xyz/ or even just "copy this file to ~/.profile" your customizations will eventually be lost when your system fails, leaving you with new reason to spend more time customizing.

As the video I linked said: if computers are as powerful as the universe and the universe was created in billions of years, you may only be done customizing billions of years from now (and at that point you will have had even more billions of years to come up with new ways you want to improve your customization).

If I'm spending time on something that won't result in an update to a git repository, or a Lemmy comment, or even speaking to someone in person or me acquiring more property, I consider it more frivolous than not.

Similarly, about 90% of the complaints I see linux users make about Windows are actually limitations in their understanding or are just outdated and no longer apply.

Least gatekeeping Linux user