Memes

Ubuntu is probably one of the easiest for the average user to jump into coming from Windows. It is designed around the GUI and to be close to a drop in replacement much more than many other distros. Linux needs to be usable 100% without the console or it will never be a true competitor for Windows. The average user sees a terminal and had no idea what to do, or what to stay away from. They are 100% reliant on the OS to prevent them from breaking things. Look at all the issues users had with learning to approve system changes via basic security like UAC prompts that just need approval, not even their password, compared to something like sudo.

Granted a big part of that was lazy developers assuming and using admin privileges they didn't actually need for their programs, because the proper way to do things was a bit harder. Something Microsoft had been telling developers for over a decade they needed to stop doing. So many applications prompted every time they were used, because of shitty applications. As soon as a basic security screen was added, those applications became annoying for the end user, and Windows got the blame from the average user because of shitty devs and Microsoft's complete lack of being able to explain things to non-power users.