Turns out the reply in my thread telling me the best way to combat not caring about Linux is to care about Linux was absolutely correct.
I picked up a laptop, installed Linux Mint Cinnamon, and I’m already obsessed. I haven’t had this much fun with a PC in a long time and it’s just a cheapo Dell Inspiron 3520.
Welcome aboard!
Just the fact that articles like this need to exist (and are plentiful), as one very tame example, makes me wonder what kind of stockholm syndrome has grabbed anyone with a shred of technical understanding who is still using Windows. They actively work to prevent allowing you full control of the OS running on your own hardware, and to make it difficult (or require additional payment) to turn off privacy invading telemetry and advertisement. Ignoring all other complaints that could be made about Windows, how is this not a dealbreaker for way more people than it seems to be?
Wow that article was a ride. I feel so happy to not have used windows in the past 5 or so years.