The person who uses professional software tends to get shoved towards windows as well since lots of that stuff is made for the largest market... windows.
I'd love nothing more than to take the windows out and bring the GNU Linux in.
It's the software that I'd like to use (specialized & gaming) and it's the file formats that I need to read and save to (microsoft office) that keep me locked in windows.
Cure that and I'd gladly say goodbye to Windows, backdoors and all.
And let me tell you why. Stability, proven workable configurations on flexible hardware options, and ease of installation with proper resources to manage the software suite in development that can be pushed to the user through teams of coding in a high level software managed manner.
Nothing against Linux, but the whole movement seems very amateur still in software development in software configuration. Too many times I see those vouching for Linux needing to search for many command line based functions for any sort of configuration, when that mess should really be a part of the intended software suite one is working in inside the OS.
In short, the command line, should be a last resort in configuration. Proper software development should have planned out everything that would be a utility to be a part of the intended software suite. That is also why MS Office despite the proclaimed "proprietary" formats (last I checked, all formats are based on an open structure-ish) is used and very seldom that a user would actually need to get down to the bit and bytes of a file format when all of the necessary formatting options are right there inside the software suite of use.
As far as being lean - hardware today is pretty cheap, affordable for the capacity, and in many forms for what the user needs. To the user that says "good enough" - essentially that is what Windows is for me. Good enough to allow me to quickly initially set a computer up and get to work on the software programs and suites I use (apps or fuller applications otherwise).
It was also Microsoft that gave the Tablet PC definition over time, starting with Windows XP (but maybe even earlier). Because of this, there are some built in features I cannot even have in Linux, such as handwriting recognition, or a built in narrator text to voice function. Someone mentioned needing to shift through many CD burning programs, but come to today, the built in burner in Windows Explorer or File Explorer is good enough that I forgone my install of Nero from my XP days.
It is also effortlessly supported, through the core Windows updates over time. I can still skim through the Knowledge Base they link to see what exactly they solve and dive down to the MSDN to see if it is relevant before pushing that update. Any instability issue now with Windows that brings up the blue screen is purely hardware or a firmware miss implementation from now on as I have not had a blue screen in ages.
If one needs to implement new hardware, no matter what the OS, command lines cannot get you any further without a necessary implementation of a hardware/software driver set, things that should be programmed as an interface from the get go and then packaged to be effortlessly implemented. With Windows, the wide array of continued hardware implementations still remain strong on a consumer periphery and in some cases industry periphery and use. Driver models have changed little from Vista-7-8 if done properly.
I am not even diving into the games territory which this forum is well familiar with. The Ribbon interface of several programs I use (either from the side "ribbon" of art programs to the top "ribbon" of CAD has everything inclusive. Even in CAD, the command line is strictly applicable in the software suite I am using, no need to invoke OS level commands - because it is simply not needed or relevant to the software suite I deal with.
There is also way too much micromanaging with Linux in many cases. As I said, Windows' settings are pretty much thought out to the point of good enough that many needed user access and power user access settings are there with an interface access, no need for a command line access unless REALLY needed or a quicker way of bypass. It is similar to having a user wanting to now manage what a CPU's branch predictor does to the point of OCD, when one is wasting time in that effort versus applying that effort to more higher productive means. Tinkering for the sake of tinkering is never a highlight in my book and that is what Linux also advocates in their culture (not a bad thing, but actual life applications and work needs to be done and a "good enough" area needs to be drawn). Why re-invent the wheel many times when one can take from a selection of wheels with software that works well in the majority society for effortless collaboration and interface and run with it?
Also, Microsoft put in the market my Surface Pro 2. Linux or any amateur effort can never hoped to even try something as bold that works (being stuck in the laptop upgrade mentality without any such of tradeoffs in design).