On a non-corporate Windows installation, that would just be the beginning, where I would be hunting for chipset drivers, graphics drivers, HID drivers, network drivers and any other devices I need, each needing separate hands-on installation.
Thank goodness that there's Ninite available now, otherwise all the basic apps that make up a Windows install would then still be another few hours of manual downloading and installation. And then there's restoration of your old Users directory, which is still a fraught process if you don't have a pretty good understanding of windows.
You haven't installed Windows in a decade.
Some devices that worked out of the box on Linux but required drivers on windows, just off the top of my head: Bluetooth USB dongle. USB wifi module. Logitech webcam. Focusrite audio interface. HP printer (actually this one required firmware on Linux too, so that's a draw). XBox 360 controller (required a driver on Windows 8.1. Maybe that's changed in the last few months with windows 10).
I admittedly don't use Bluetooth and every time I've tried it's been a horrible experience.
> USB wifi module.
Mine works fine, no driver download.
> Logitech webcam.
Mine works fine, no driver download.
> Focusrite audio interface.
I don't have one.
> HP printer (actually this one required firmware on Linux too, so that's a draw).
I haven't used a printer in probably 10 years.
> XBox 360 controller (required a driver on Windows 8.1. Maybe that's changed in the last few months with windows 10).
Nope. Not on 8.1. Not on 10. There may be an optional driver for it (may be-- I've never seen it), but it's certainly not required. This one I can firmly say you're wrong about. (Unless you have like a Chinese knock-off Xbox 360 controller-- the brand-name ones work.)
I had a great experience the other day when I plugged in my ancient CanoScan LiDE 200 scanner I bought back in the Windows 2000 days, and it worked flawlessly in Windows 10, no drivers or software needed.
The wifi modules were a generic device with a Ralink/Mediatek chipset, and another TP-Link branded device. I don't recall the specific webcam verson, it's an older Quick series one that really should have worked.
> I had a great experience the other day when I plugged in my ancient CanoScan LiDE 200 scanner I bought back in the Windows 2000 days
In general this is a situation where Linux shines, because hardware tends to remain supported much longer as long as there's someone willing to keep the driver compiling. With TWAIN scanners it's a lot easier of course.
There are a lot more foot guns in Linux, but the ease of wiping and reinstalling makes those less problematic
Never did figure out what happened, I ended up just hopping over to a debian laptop and doing it there and it worked fine.
maybe you would had been better off with some flavour of Ubuntu, Debian is cool and all but it's not for beginners, although if you read into it first - it's one of the most stable systems you could use.
Still, worrying about reading guide after guide before installing routine software from a standard repo is not something I want to do in my desktop software.
It's by no means a bad platform, but its not for me. I want a system where I need to do as little as possible to configure it, an I just want it to work. On my windows and macOS systems, I can completely wipe the machine, and be back up and running in a few hours.