And hence it was fast as hell and used next to no resources.
That's the permanent advantage of assembler. If you want to see how fast PCs really are these days, run something on them that is written in assembly language, and be amazed. Bloatware grows so quickly that today's PCs don't really get normal tasks done any faster than they did 25 years ago. Every increase in hardware speed has been eclipsed by an equal or greater increase in software bloat.
I'm interested why you think a clueless Ubuntu user is any worse off than a clueless Windows user? It's easy enough for them get in above their head in either case.
The list of reasons why Linux is a terrible choice for the desktop is too long to provide here. Suffice it to say that Linux among ordinary users is asking for trouble: a support and administrative and strategic nightmare. And there are no compensating advantages.