When I created my current startup, all product managers and bankers told me it wouldn't work. That was 3 years ago and I'm still living off it. (Can't disclose the details of the product because I've disclosed things that could be linked to my partners previously with the same account)

So I'd bet people have been bitten enough by Android, Facebook, LinkedIn and Windows 10 that they're ripe to understand that their OS is worth 50$/yr.

What do you mean by "bitten enough"? Concretely. That there were newspaper articles about problems with their data protection, or about some data leaks? People don't care about this. It's irrelevant unless it impacts their workflow right there and then. Not in the abstract, not about ideals like democracy and ethics. They want to get work done.

"Bitten enough", for Windows 10, is:

- the forced upgrade to everyone who didn't agree with the upgrade,

- the telemetry

- the OEM "drivers" that display ads/change 404 pages/install a CA certificate/slow down an otherwise good the computer/install the OEM's wallpaper/break the trust between the customer and their computer.

For Android it's having coarse-grained permissions, the fact that "Ok Google" means the mic is on all the time, having Dropbox suggest to upload every time you take a picture. iOS is quite good but it's a closed garden, non-USB plugs, the impossibility of mounting the iPhone and just put mp3s on it, and requiring iTunes for music sync, which tries to push you to use their iTunes Store. It's all related to phones, but the point is, people do realize that they're providers don't care about them.

I said "normal people", not techies. Normal, average users don't even know these things exist. They can't agree or disagree with an update because they have no idea what a given update does and have no expectation to compare it to.

"people do realize that they're providers don't care about them"

Again, I can just suggest talking to average users. They don't even think about this sort of thing. They are annoyed if they can't get things done. If the app freezes, or drops the wifi connection etc. They don't care about permissions. They want their stuff to "just work".

My sister doesn't know much, but asks me all the time "Do you think my employer can bug my personal phone?" My parents asked me whether it's safe to enter their credit card numbers on their computer. My parents asked me how to get rid of notifications of their OEM antivirus. People who don't understand technology, but they do understand security, privacy and malware.

You're reminding me that my parents (63 years old) and my sister might belong to a bubble made of 10% of the people. I'm highlighting that those 10% still make above 100 million people. There's definitely concern for privacy all across the board, but people won't switch to Linux because open-source software is ugly and dense today.

I'm not saying we'll sell a paid Linux to everyone. But good UX + respect for the user is still a huge market. The market will grow as the image of Linux improves and people will end up switching "because it just works better".

Talk to HN folks and see for yourself...