Linux requires tinkering and Windows doesn't? Is that some alternate-universe version of Windows? In my experience, the difference is social/psychological. When Windows fucks up, "everybody uses it," so the blame falls on the masses, not the user, who was just going along with what's normal and expected. People sort of mentally elide memory of the Windows fuck ups, because that's just how Windows is.

Linux is different and weird, and you have to stray from the herd to use it. Straying from the masses is scary, because when Linux fucks up, it's your fault for being contrary. That threat to one's place in the social order is quite memorable. Hence the reluctance of Windows users, who hate it, to even consider trying another OS that they know nothing about.

I never switched from Windows. I never used Windows as my main OS. I had an Amiga, then learned Unix on SunOS, so I was used to being weird. Once I got a PC, I used FreeBSD. It did require a lot of fiddling back in those days, and when I got tired of that, I switched to Ubuntu, which was amazing in that it Just Worked(tm). (Aside from manual installation of the Windows driver for the PCMCIA WiFi card with NDISWrapper.)

(I still do tinker with it, and sometimes break it, but the base OS has been rock solid. I noticed the other day that my main PC was installed with Ubuntu 18.04, and upgraded to 24.04.)