There is definitely progress here since the early '00s. However, there's a very long way to go until even the most polished home-user Linux distros approach the level of usability (and supportability, even more critical) of proprietary OSes for non-power-users.
And I wasn't trying to paint everyone who wants to tinker with the same "gatekeeping" brush, sorry if I came off that way. GP equated proprietary software with "pay[ing] someone to lock you into their ecosystem" and "destroy[ing] innovation", and ended with
> If you lack the desire to learn how to configure your system, then you will probably not want to use a Free system. That's just how it is.
That's the sentiment I had trouble with. Not the existence of knobs (which should continue existing! Just with better tuning experience for casual users, and saner defaults).
There's definitely some "customization freaks only" assholes on the internet too, but…
very very often, it seems like some people perceive that when a non-out-of-the-box OS just exists and people like using it just personally for themselves.