In my company the managers I have talked to about this (they have private offices with windows) seemed to be thinking that the people who complain are just whin

In my company the managers I have talked to about this (they have private offices with windows) seemed to be thinking that the people who complain are just whiners. In addition these decisions get made pretty far up in the hierarchy so most likely the people who make the decision never have to work in that environment. For example in my company facilities makes the decisions but they have a nice team room with windows for everyone. So in short I believe that decisions about workspaces almost never that made by the prople who have to work there. And when you get to the level of people who can shape their workspace like CEO and VP you rarely see open office as the choice but usually private office with window.