Debian 2.x (don't remember exactly) was my first attempt. But I don't actually count that because after annoying driver troubles (networking and mouse) and having to recompile the kernel multiple times I unfortunately lost interest.
Tried again with Debian 8 on my laptop and stuck with it until I moved 100% Linux just a couple of years ago thanks to Valve/Proton.
Oh, it can get worse. If Windows market share should really plummet, it won't be replaced by a heterogenous distro utopia but some company like Canonical or Red Hat or a new one will get their distribution to fill the gap. And call me a cynic but I doubt this will be immune to enshittification.
But even that scenario is better than what we have with Microsoft and Apple. The FOSS world would still benefit like it does from the Steam Deck developments.
On released they didn't know yet how far they can push that telemetry shit down their users' throats. I bet, 11 is better optimized for that. And eventually, it'll be Win365 OSaaS anyway...
Websites offer that but you can usually find those in your favorite package manager Downloading software from shady websites is the Windows way of doing things.
Now, to be clear: this discussion is about having to use the terminal and that's what people answered. You still find so many resources referring to the terminal because it's often just the most convenient and effective way to do something.
I certainly prefer it over clicking through settings or running dedicated tools to do something that could be solved by a single line. And I was an exclusive Windows user like 5 years ago.
Actually, yeah, because selling copies is all they care about. And the fact that Epic decided to help get EAC running via Proton back in 2022 shows, that Valve's endeavor does have impact.