With Linux as opposed to Windows, you are certainly more aware of what things are going on, although you will likely not understand it. That amount of response messages as tasks are performed will likely confound, confuse, and frighten many people. They have to get use to the idea that such messages are common in Linux. I note that Ubuntu does more to hide the details of what is going on, which many will regard as being more user-friendly.
It's true that Linux can support more functionality from the GUI interface than found in Windows, but that in itself would mean a more extensive menu hierarchy that has to be learned, memorized, and navigated. It is so highly customizable that once you learn and modify your menu system, you will be hard pressed to work well with someone else's. The cookie-cutter approach supported by Windows has the advantage of uniformity, which for technical support, is often far more ideal from an enterprise viewpoint.
I have the feeling that at present, implementations of Linux fall just short of a platform that can just take off and overwhelm Microsoft dominance. It is geared to the individual in the way that Windows cannot match, which actually works against it when it comes to market penetration. You upset people when you give them too many choices, unless they know enough to make informed choices.
Take vehicles for example. We just bought a new car, but a used one. I would rather have held out for a few more years, believing that the gas car market is going to collapse in the wake of rising fuel prices and gas shortages. The only cars worth owning then will be hybrids and alternate fuel vehicles, including electrics. We seem on the verge where the auto industry will have to shift focus. But they are fighting off the change, and the buying public is also still geared towards the status quo. My wife is tired of waiting, and the old car just gets older, so she felt that we had to commit. It's a nice older car, and reasonably good on gas, but I'm certain that in five years it will be too expensive to drive.
The switchover requires the essential collapse of the present car market, and there is too much infrastructure involved for that to occur naturally. While alternative vehicles are becoming available, they are not optimum either in initial costs or continued use and support. If any car manufacturer were to commit to a low cost, fuel efficient vehicle, the existing inventory of cars would become so much scrap metal almost overnight. The prospect of possibly bringing the house down on themselves probably scares the pants off them, and they are putting off the day as long as possible. I believe that it will be a maverick company, one that does not have anything invested in the current infrastructure, that will be the one to finally come out with the breakthrough model. The market will have to follow suit once its success is assured.
Now the relationship between Windows and Linux is nowhere near the same, unless you recognize existing programs, applications, files, training, and documentation as corresponding to the same burden of existing infrastructure that has to be dealt with. It is no good arguing that there are equally capable alternatives under Linux when the plain fact is that considerable rework and uncertainty are natural consequences of any effort to shift from Windows to Linux. There is no way that a company can quit work on Friday with all their computers running Windows, and return to work on Monday and find that they are now proud users of Linux PCs instead, without the company under threat of going belly up by week's end.
But for individuals, who make their own choices, and who are willing to step up to relearning and remastering many PC skills, Linux may be a worthwhile investment of your time and effort. However, as in buying a new car, there are many tradeoffs to consider before you can reach that conclusion. And as part of that determination, you have to weigh the matter in terms of your needs and interests, those of your customers and peers, and any organization that you are a functional part of.
