@charlie_root @Goalkeeper @Volkish_Observer @tyler @HonkHonkBoom @white_male >the inevitable massive time sink of getting the setup just right and functional only to have it get wrecked by updates and constant changes.
Getting a setup just right if you're not happy with the defaults takes a while on any OS.

You have the freedom to simply not install updates or changes to certain programs and libraries and then the setup will continue to work exactly the same for years.

My .emacs config hasn't ever gotten wrecked despite the updates to the Emacs OS.

xfce4 or i3 or Mate are all DE's that don't get constant changes, although updates sometimes break some parts of xfce4 (that you can simply not install), but the regressions are eventually fixed.

You probably want to just avoid libraries or desktop environments that have constant changes made.

>I guess most if not all computer users experience this on some level.
Yes, although windows and macos users experience such far harder than GNU users do.