Windows is where it is because of Microsoft’s aggression. There’s no essence inside Windows that makes it widespread ex nihilo.

Linux isn’t as widespread as it could be because many people don’t realise it’s a viable alternative to Windows or Mac. It has nothing to do with how many distros there are. Also, newbies are usually recommended Ubuntu or Linux Mint, so it’s not even “so many choices” to begin with.

Also, you do realise you can interact with instances other than yours, right? I use lemm.ee btw.

I think the only reason Windows users are afraid of terminals is that they’re not used to them. They’re not that bad. Most terminal programs have a -(-)help command that shows you what you can do as well, in case you get stuck.