I'd argue that's because your use-case doesn't match that of billions of users. Microsoft has to make judgment calls based on user experience of billions of end

I'd argue that's because your use-case doesn't match that of billions of users. Microsoft has to make judgment calls based on user experience of billions of end users on both kernel and front-end parts whereas the the Linux kernel developers can care only about the power users, which makes for a great kernel with superpowers, but you also need superpowers to wield it. Yes desktop Linux is probably better these days for casual users of many degrees, but those users should probably be using ChromeOS (disregarding privacy questions, only UX) whereas the Linux desktop gives you the choices of boatloads of desktop environments and configurability. There's a reason Windows is the most used "computer operating system" (disregard android and ios). I'm very happy on Linux myself just to be clear, but there are reasons why we're just a few percent of the market, and using free as in Libre and gratis software mostly.