Probably better to think of spending their money on an open ecosystem, instead of just using something for "free". If software products have sufficient funding they can better improve the products and can continue to exist - without some form of monetisation most wouldn't still be around.
It was Ubuntu 14.10 (still had Unity) installed on a Mac mini to run a Plex server. I actually really liked Ubuntu then, it was all new and very different to Windows. I had it hooked up to a TV and used the DE to maintain it I.e console, update app etc.
There was this really annoying error that would occur every time it would boot which drove me to look elsewhere. Ended up trying Arch and didn't put a DE on there because I started to get comfortable with the terminal and SSHing in.
I eventually installed Arch on my desktop and dual booted for a couple years using XFCE. Once I discovered KDE there was no going back.
I haven't used Windows on any of devices for years, all running Fedora and KDE.
I think calling it a pay gap is fairly disingenuous, really its about apparent descrimination. We should work ti eliminate descrimination while still hiring the best person for the job, otherwise you end up going the other way and you're back at square one.
The trick is to not respond for an hour and hope their next message is "nvm, fixed it"