I think the secret/trick to this is the level of functionality. I can get Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora up and running in 10 or 15 minutes. Windows, too, maybe. After the install and setup they probably take the same amount of time. Post Install it probably takes a bit more time for Windows. The main thing here being Windows updates.
Linux can write/change files while running. Windows can’t. That’s the big beef with Windows updates taking so long and having to reboot. They’re different systems.
Lastly, revisiting the top point, I can do more on Windows than I can on Linux, so the time sink is going to be longer regarding the setup. They also have a broader spectrum of audience, so you, the developer/admin/power user, have to tailor your system to your needs. Whereas with Linux they mostly expect you to want to dev in something so a lot of that stuff is included.
A few years ago I tried doing everything on Linux, but quickly abandoned it because I’d rather play games or get stuff done instead of getting it to work on Linux.
So I just use 2 computers.
Windows for games and software that doesn’t exist for Linux.
And Ubuntu for tin foiling.
I don’t care about W10 telemetry cause the only thing on it are games and blu ray ripping software.
In my own experience, Windows have always worked. Only once was it close to dying, and that was my own fault.
One thing that upsets me besides everything is 2012 R2 had the add/removal feature. So you could use the GUI/Wizard + PowerShell swagger to get your server up and running and then strip the GUI and reboot to the server core.
They removed that in 2016 and up.
I’m still irate and I don’t even support Windows anymore.