That sounds like what someone could say about Linux:

~ Linux should be a hobbyist thing for people who want to spend their time tinkering with their computer, not a way to support a not-very-old device. ~

Whether it comes to phones or computers, I disagree respectively when it comes to custom ROMs or Linux.

> That sounds like what someone could say about Linux:

So? The problem is both Linux and a Custom ROM take a few orders of magnitude more technical skill and effort to install and maintain, which is completely unreasonable to expect from a typical non-hobbyist retail technology user. Such users should be able to click "update" on their system, get up-to-date with patches, so they can go on to do what really want to do (which probably isn't "maintain their technology"). I'm even someone who's capable of doing that, but I don't want to because I've got much better and more important things do with my time now.

Installing Linux is often far easier than installing Windows nowadays, and multiple distributions offer long-time support. It's an excellent way of getting more life out of semi-old systems.

> Installing Linux is often far easier than installing Windows nowadays, and multiple distributions offer long-time support.

Even if that's true, most computer users don't install Windows. It comes preinstalled.

> It's an excellent way of getting more life out of semi-old systems.

Maybe so, but it's not nearly as good of an option as getting continued support for your preinstalled OS.

Both are valid points, but you did write that Linux is harder to install and maintain. I disagree on those two points.

Pre-installed with a decent support plan is hard to beat regardless if it's Windows, MacOS or something like Linux Mint.