I used gnome though. IIRC, everything to do with customising GNOME is done through extensions, and all extensions have GUI settings menus.
My point being, even though it's objectively harder to customise GNOME, it still doesn't require using the terminal.
What exact GUI controls does linux lack that windows doesn't?
It went great. I mostly had to submit files in PDF, which allowed any office software to work perfectly.
That is until covid came around and I had to do proctored online exams. The proctoring software doesn't support linux.
On top of being preinstalled, we also need google search-able instructions that avoid the terminal altogether. People are afraid of the terminal, it doesn't matter why, it just is.
Currently, most solutions to linux problems come in the form of terminal commands. We would have to start creating a whole new troubleshooting forum where instructions avoid the terminal and are just lists of buttons to press in a GUI. Probably helpful screenshots too.
Of course I have no idea if some things even have GUIs at all, like configuring user groups and permissions or firewall settings, someone would need to make them. Not to mention every DE or program would need a different set of instructions, GNOME or KDE, firewalld or iptables. It'll be a lot of work.