Lemmy has a strong bias towards Linux. I wouldn't say Linux is a failed desktop OS (but hey look at the marketshare) but the transition to Linux is not easy for majority of less tech savvy users. I know you guys have setup Debian/Ubuntu for your grandma and it has been working great since, you don't have to repeat that.

As someone who's been trying to move over to Linux for years and fallback to Windows every time I tried, there's always issues I need to troubleshoot, the most recent one would be mixed refresh rate monitors ie. running at 60Hz instead of 144Hz until I made specific change to a config file. And as a gamer, it makes it even harder - I am aware Proton is a thing now and 'most' games work out of the box, I have Steam Deck for my portable needs. Pay attention to the keyword 'most', when it doesn't work, I ain't wanna spend my previous time to troubleshoot so that I can play the game.

As for my Windows 11 experience, it hasn't been that bad. There's no more active prompts for update and restart your computer now or the world will end. UI also looks better with minimal tweaks. Is privacy concern something I should care more? Absolutely, but at this stage of my life, I value more on the consistency and expected behaviour from my PC.

Server use case on the other hand, Linux > all.

a failed desktop OS

Windows still has over 60% of desktop market share. You may not like it, but it isn't a failed OS.

I was with you on the software compatibility point, but then you completely lost me with "failed desktop OS"...