Saying they "lost" in this context means they got to a point where it was clear capitulation to open source was the obvious play.

As if you could not do that on another OS.

You can use Nvidia GPUs in SLI mode in Linux and BSD too. I am using an Nvidia GPU right now and I am not using Windows, and "everything just works" too, no terminals involved. Are you implying that it's not possible to do this outside Windows?

How much of that market capitalization comes from running a de-facto monopoly of office suites for decades? As a consumer, it's hard to see how corporations like Microsoft push governments around the world to buy licenses in bulk because there are no alternatives.

> dual-monitor, dual NVidia GPU

Not exactly thanks to Microsoft.

You can't do it on a Mac (unless you want to run two non-supported graphics cards sharing 4 lanes on a Thunderbold/USB-C connector instead of each having their own x16 PCIe connection)

To their credit, stability of such a setup might be facilitated by Windows' fine display driver model (WDDM).