Because noobs can install Windows in 5 minutes?

First you need the drivers, how will you get them if you don't have a CD ROM and ethernet is not working?

Sometimes drivers suck, sometimes Realtek sound drivers mess up the Realtk network cards, will your noobs know what happened?

Then you have to install apps like VLC, good luck ending up on the official site and not some random download site

Other issue I personally have with windows as a disabled person is Windows did not allowed me to set custom keyboard shortcuts for the Magnifier app. In the worst case with an open source app I could edit the code and fix it but KDE allows me to set the shortcuts as I need

The article author touched on this as well. The single biggest hurdle that comes up when my sphere of influence talk about installing a linux distro is the amount of manual fussing and finicky driver work you "have to do". Whether that is the reality in today's distros compared to people trying distros out in years past (hello XUbuntu 7!) is to the side. Perception is reality, and no amount of my arguing has been able to change people's minds unless they are already a tinkerer or an anti-Microsoftie.

A sibling comment talks about using xorg vs Wayland and the difference it makes in making the mouse work well or not. That is a perfect example of what holds Linux back from it's (hopefully soon) year of the Linux desktop.

If a given Linux distro would target a consistent set of apps that are familiar to users/"noobs" out of the box (the list the author used is pretty representative) as well as some more visible attempts at automatic driver selection based on known hardware IDs, it would dramatically lower that friction and thus help combat the possibly unfair perception Linux currently runs into in the mind of plain users.

I will say, Microsoft has been bungling things so epically with their windows update boondoggles that I'm starting to encounter users who seem more open to that Linux thing, at least if you pitched it with a distro that tried to have Windows-like look and feel, like the ZorrinOs/Lindows/KDEs of the world.

Configuring my Mac to my liking also takes a few hours and it doesn't seem to stop noobs from using it.

Whoever first brings to market a laptop with Linux that "just works" 100% from the moment you press the on button, is poised to make a lot of money.

That day will probably never arrive, but it's fun to think about.