How many dongles were people forced to buy to continue using whatever peripheral they had already working?
Can you please stop with the goal-post moving?
Linux is, by your own logic, Inferior from a usability or "just works" standpoint. We all agree on this, therefore: End of discussion on this baseline.
Where we disagree is the extent of this incompatibility. Linux IMO is even worse then the baseline above. On linux, my graphics card (arguably a peripheral) has melted down and crashed the OS on me many times. I have a lot of trouble getting my xbox controller to connect with bluetooth to the OS. So anecdotally I would say that even your base line of linux just being inferior is too high.
That's not the end of the story because these small issues extend way past peripherals. You can keep the argument focused on peripherals if you want but this is really a general issue affecting linux and FOSS.
The difference is we know already what works with our equipment and what doesn't, so we don't wait until the last minute to figure out if some gadget can be used in an important setting? Also important, some of the engineers that "for some reason prefer Linux" know something that you don't, like the importance of adopting open standards and buying from hardware companies that do not lock you in into their ecosystem?