The vast majority of Windows users don't really care about that though.

In the 90s, software modems ("winmodems", see [0]) were popular because they were cheaper than using dedicated hardware for generating and decoding the audio signals sent over the phone line. Those would break if the manufacturer didn't upgrade their driver for newer versions of Windows, since they're completely software driven.

I'd be very surprised if things have changed since then, and I bet that the majority of consumers would just pick the cheapest option at the big box store.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softmodem

My bf got given a wacom tablet for free because the wacom windows drivers no longer support it but it works perfectly fine on Linux.

The windows approach to driver certification makes this really difficult. Microsoft virtually requires every driver maintainer to pay $100-odd every couple of years for a signing certificate (and ironically enough this is done in the name of improving driver quality). For a corporation that's nothing, but it's a pretty steep ask for the hobbyist maintainers that OSS drivers tend to rely on.

That’s true, but... that culture isn’t there for Windows users the way it is for Linux users.