Sorry, but take the horse blinders off.
If this kind of criticism coming from a long time user of Linux desktop (not as active nowadays because work is Windows, but most of my work is done in IDEs, browsers and through Cygwin anyway), FOSS supporter, etc is FUD, then boy, are you going to have a hard time fighting Microsoft's or Apple's marketing teams.
> 3) if you are not a beginner you should be able to maintain a desktop.
And therein lies the main rub :-)
Most people aren't able to "maintain a desktop". They don't really maintain either Windows, or MacOS. Most people are at best, "perpetual intermediates". Only a small fraction of users want or actually become power users. Most just trundle along trying their best to learn the least possible. And that's in every domain you can imagine.
This is the thing that will condemn Desktop Linux to being a niche product. That's fine, up to a point.
He offered the solution though. If you are not able to "maintain a desktop" (either because you don't know how to, just don't want to, or don't have the time to, etc) then use a stable distro and accept the choices that were made for you. Thats not much different than just installing Windows or buying a Mac and accepting whatever decisions Microsoft/Apple made regarding how the desktop experience should be.
There's a good number of large tech companies providing Linux desktops for both tech-savy and other employees and it just works.
> Sorry, but take the horse blinders off.
Horse blinders? Ironic given how you looked only at half a sentence and ignored the rest.
I was using Linux desktops 20 years ago and the same arguments were made. They were FUD and they still are.
1) having "too much" choice is nothing to complain about.
2) if you are a beginner, pick a stable distribution and your desktop will be completely immune to churn. Use it as a productivity tool, not as a playground.
3) if you are not a beginner you should be able to maintain a desktop. If you are busy, pick a simple DE and use it on a well know distribution.