Alaknar

That's an average over the 9 hours, so including breaks.

I bet they would have helped though

No, they wouldn't. I've seen so many posts on r/techsupport and r/windows from people complaining about Search or other OS functions not working. They always claimed that they "did nothing", only afterwards it would turn out they used some of that crap software, which broke half the OS.

laptop had a weird antivirus software preinstalled

That could've been the reason for A LOT of problems too.

Let me put it this way: me, my family, and my business all run essentially clean Windows + Defender. Nothing else. And by "clean" I mean: install from ISO, leave as is.

Last time I had a BSOD was three years ago which was around 6 years since the previous one.

Meanwhile, the Tuxedo OS that I'm running right now (and, generally, enjoy very much) just hung up completely when I put it to sleep and then awoke. As in: not even the cursor moved when I moved the mouse, had to hard reset the thing. Things like that just don't happen in the Windows world these days.

what is he going to do when they are all too big to give piggy back rides

Nothing enough Flex Tape can't fix.

Out of curiosity - were you using any "debloaters" or other scripts/apps that were supposed to "fix" or "speed up" Windows?

Are you OK, buddy?

1000% this!

Hold on... You're saying that you supported other people using Linux, and NEVER encountered ANY issues?

I don't believe you. :)

Through my own experiences not just what I’ve read

Right. You can't say "empirically [based on my hands-on experience] YOU are getting things mixed up". That's not how reality works.

It's like saying: "I just ate great breakfast, therefore world hunger doesn't exist".

ESPECIALLY with things as fragmented as Linux.

Google and Valve are US companies so I don’t think people are sticking it to the US when they use their products

More and more people are getting interested in /e/OS, GrapheneOS, and LineageOS, turning away from Google. Valve is always considered to be "that one good company" so they're in a pretty good spot, but even with that, more people are showing interest in GOG than before.

Install and forget, the only issue I’ve had that isn’t a 5 minute fix is a broken pipe error on updates that doesn’t interfere with anything.

I'm really glad you had a great experience with Linux, truly. Now go and read my first comment in this thread to see the other side of the fence.

Have you tried either?

See above.

Windows is always blue screening, black screening, or having apps freeze

When was the last time you tried Windows? 20 years ago? 15 years ago? Because "always blue screening" suggests something like that.

Windows 10 and 11 are on par with MacOS in terms of stability, mate.

What are you trying to argue here, mate?

We're talking about OSes for the average user. You said that Windows with 128 GB is "not stable and not ready out of the box, unlike Linux".

Then you said "if it doesn't work on that, then it's not for the masses".

So what exactly is your point?

Empirically, you are getting Windows and Linux mixed up

I'm honestly not sure you understand what "empirically" means... But I might be wrong! Please elaborate!

Also more end user devices are Linux than Windows

Yes, nowadays especially, when people are trying to "stick it to the US". Which doesn't change the fact that most of these will return to Windows within 6 months, and even with them it's still an insignificant minority compared to the hegemony of Windows and MacOS.

Linux is ideal for people who don’t want to spend all day troubleshooting and not getting anywhere

I'm sorry, WHAT?

It’s for people who want things to just work without extra effort

You have GOT TO be joking right now...

Sure, mate. 128 GB of RAM is clearly "for the masses". :D

To quote the classic: "the best thing about Linux is the community. The worst thing about Linux is the community".

Rebooting Windows doesn’t remove the advertisement, data collection

We're not talking about any of that.

AI integration

No such thing exists.

TPM requirements

And thank goodness for that! I like my devices secure and sound, thank you.

which is driving people to switch to Linux

[citation needed]