> incontrovertible.

I don't think so. I use all 3 OSs and they all have their strengths. macOS major strength for me is the hardware that comes with it. But the OS is so unbearable that I hardly use it.

Linux is better in a lot of ways way than Windows and macOS since you can customize it. But the catch is that it takes a bit of constant work and knowledge to tame it.

It's pretty clear how many sharp edges macOS has because there's an entire market of tools to fix it.

Window management: Windows > Linux > macOS.

Games: Windows > Linux Proton > macOS.

Battery (partly because of hardware): macOS > Windows > Linux

Performance (laptops): macOS > Linux > Windows

> Settings have been half-assed

Whenever I see someone complain about windows setting I know they barely use it, or use it in a non-power user way because when I need to access a setting, I just press Windows key and type part of the word I need to access. It searched settings from there. Only grandma navigates settings with a cursor.

> Modal confirmation boxes that must be dealt with before you can do anything else with your computer

If the operation will permit changing system files, yes, and that is good. In my experience I get one or 2 of these per day. Some days none.

> Updating drivers requires remembering going to a dozen separate vendors.

For some hardware perhaps. And that's because Windows runs in almost all PCs that are not macs. But for popular hardware, windows updates also downloads drivers. I think I only installed NVidia driver and that's because I wanted to keep it at a fixed version.

> that need to be re-disabled every upgrade

Not my experience but maybe because I use Windows Pro version.

I’m pretty much with you on all these points. I’ll add that I don’t care that drivers break on Windows because at least it works with all my 3rd party hardware.

All this being said, I still prefer my Mac. The battery life, screen, speed — basically the hardware — is so good that it makes up for all of the shittyness in the OS.