I would happily submit ALL the time required to set up my perfectly-tailored Linux environment once and have it stay that way, just to not have Windows Update (or a random blue screen or 100% disk utilization etc) make my machine unavailable for 40 min just before a hugely important client demo one more time.

Various Linux distros still have ways to go in terms of polish and stability - but, anecdotally, the only times my Arch + KDE failed were when I did stupid things and went too far with tinkering without thinking.

Does that mean that paying for an OS means your time has negative value?

Surely the time spent installing, configuring, and messing around with your personal desktop or laptop after already having paid for a complete OS is tantamount to buying a prebuilt PC, taking it apart, and putting it back together with a few missing screws.

Zero is still greater than any negative number.

One of the most beautiful things about the open source / Linux world is that you rarely have to learn a new way of doing things, unless you want to. Prefer Gnome 2? Fork it. Not flippant advice -- enough people preferred it that a new community project started. So you can still run the desktop environment you did 15 years ago. That's simply not an option - no matter how many users might want it - with Windows should Microsoft make a decision about the direction of Windows. You will spend time and effort relearning after forced changes.

Over the last 10 years or so, I'd try out Linux for a week, get frustrated for one reason or another, and then switch back to Windows.

Back in February I decided to try Linux Mint again, and this time it worked, and I haven't switched back to Windows yet. I think Linux is starting to get good, even for someone like me, who doesn't want to become a part-time Linux admin.

(Your joke still made me laugh, for the record)

That was 15 years ago. Today, it's a big time saver compared to Windows.

Have you read the article?

Not only you're paying Windows but you have to waste time to disable its antifeatures..

Windows and macOS have both wasted plenty of my time over the years too!

20 years ago windows cost me more time than linux, from what I hear it’s not got any cheaper

That's from Microsoft's and Apple's marketing material, not a reflection of reality.

For basic office tasks and browsing the Internet, Debian stable won't waste your time: it should just work.

that sounds like you either never tried Linux… or maybe sometimes 25 years ago. The reality is (and has been for quite a long time) that Linux actually takes far LESS time than Windows. Heck, when I see the type of shitty problems I hear from Windows users, I wonder why they put up with it.