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Then Microsoft's software model is valid - toss out your existing hardware, and get something new that runs the latest and greatest. After all, you wouldn't try to rebuild your toaster to add two more slots, not when you can buy a new one with four slots already.
My experience with users (from users up to senior level execs) has been most people want the commodity reliability and lack of operating knowledge that goes with an appliance in a general purpose device. No wonder software continues to bloat, as every conceivable possibility is addressed by a 'wizard' or someting similar!
Despite millions of dollars spent in misinformation and marketing lies, computers are still general purpose devices, not commodity appliances. And I don't think people really want that, anyway. I don't see web TV or email appliances flying off the shelves, while those hard-to-use computers collect cobwebs. People want the flexibility of a general purpose device, but they've been conditioned (through marketing, misinformation, etc.) to expect that they won't need to learn anything at all about the way their computer works. This is the issue that needs to be addressed, not how feature-restricted (the real purpose of an appliance, after all) Linux or *BSD or Windows can be made.
It's just not possible to retain the flexibility of a general purpose device and simultaneously restrict the operation to that of a commodity appliance. Take your pick - Flexibility, or no-brain operation.