I lived exclusively with Linux for years and never had the issues with updates and patches that Windows has. I think their community vetting process is stronger and they listen to the community. When have you known Microsoft to listen unless they here hit over the head, pinned down and shouted at.
The Linux community, in its entirety, is very small and insular compared to the embedded base of Windows users. That really does make a difference, and makes life easier for those developing the distros, too. Linux, by and large, makes separate distros to serve specific demographics.
Contrast that with Microsoft and Windows (any version), where the competing needs of a vast array of demographics are being addressed, and balanced, all the time. There are tensions in the Windows world that do not, and never have, existed within the world of the Linux distros in particular.
As frustrated as I get with Microsoft, I honestly can't say whether they're listening or not, as the shouting from quarters with diametrically opposed wants and needs is a constant din, and I'm not always (or even frequently) going to be in one of the quarters that gets what it wants. Microsoft, when compared with Apple, for one, has certainly tried at least to address feedback over the years, even when it's been slow. The Windows ecosystem is about as open and flexible as one could want. It's definitely not a "you will become one with the Borg" setting, that's for sure.
You also hear a lot more about Microsoft's issues, which are plenty, because there are so many more users out there. But what you seldom hear about is how often "issues" cannot honestly be laid at the foot of Microsoft. I'm constantly having to present this reality on a number of venues, particularly a number of blind and low-vision technology groups I haunt. When an update goes out to hundreds of thousands to millions of computers, and almost no one is reporting problems, but you are having some, that immediately suggests that the issue lies with something idiosyncratic about your computer. Real bugs, and heaven knows they do sometimes make it out to the wild, in updates generally hit anyone who applies them. The Outlook burp the other day being a perfect example. But if your computer (for any you) is giving you fits after a given update, but not a single one of your friends/relatives/acquaintances is having the same problem(s) you are, and they've applied the same update(s) you have, it's not likely Microsoft that's at fault.
