It is unnecessarily annoying to get the LTSC or other Enterprise versions of Windows but it's not out of reach for an individual.

Use https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/solution-providers/ and pick one of the companies in your area. It largely doesn't matter.

Shoot them an email explaining what you want and they'll have you meet the 5 license minimum for volume licensing by buying a Windows Pro License a Windows Enterprise Upgrade license, and 3 user cals which are cheap. They'll put your name down as the business and then you're done.

You can also get it with MSDN if you have that!

Why would you want a long term support contract for Linux? How is that comparable? Do you contact Microsoft for support often? And if so, how many of those things could you resolve yourself on Linux in 10 minutes via StackOverflow?

LTSC is the long-term support enterprise version of Windows. Last I checked, it's stripped down without the Windows Store/Cortana/Candy Crush nonsense that a typical install includes.

I interpreted the OP as suggesting that the proper analog for a $200 (plus ads) Windows Pro license was a Linux long term support contract, suggesting that $200 (plus ads) for Windows Pro is a bargain compared to a Linux support contract (e.g., from redhat or similar). In this case, I'm not sure why a Linux support contract is an appropriate comparison operand.

If the OP indeed meant "Windows LTSC", then I'm not following along with their point.

I was making fun of how difficult they make it to legally get a decent version of Windows.