Linux distros could’ve prevented this problem by fixing their vulnerable signature when the security flaw was found two years ago. All they needed to do was regenerate the SBAT when the security update came in, but as far as I can tell the broken systems just patched the code (allowing anyone to still exploit it by replacing the Grub executable with a broken version). This is hardly a Microsoft conspiracy. Microsoft gave Linux users two years more than they gave Windows users (and, more importantly, system administrators) when they had a vulnerability like this last year.

Windows users aren’t going to switch to Linux, they use Windows because they want Windows. If they don’t want to make it easy to get infected, they can buy critical security updates beyond the 10 years of standard support Microsoft provided Windows 10 with (the ESU program) or they can keep using their old Windows 10 install without security updates.

Realistically, as long as Google maintains Chrome for Windows 10 (so all those Chrome derived browsers still receive updates), most people are going to be fine when it comes to viruses. The 4% using Firefox may receive even more support through the ESR programme.

I’d expect Microsoft to care more about ChromeOS Flex than they do about Linux on the desktop. Would be nice if Linux would become usable enough for normal people, but it’s still a pretty rough experience if you don’t have a Linux expert around. Maybe one day!