As many people can attest, popular Linux distributions (like Ubuntu or Fedora) work just fine on select hardware, like ThinkPad X series, or Dell XPS. But Linux on desktop is fundamentally a tinkerer's OS: great if you like tinkering and flexible when you need it but otherwise a waste of time for a lot of people :) I like tinkering and use Linux ~exclusively but don't recommend it to most of my friends.