I install whatever I want on my Linux desktop without thinking about it, and the file browser is still as fast as it was the day I installed it (really fast). I don’t have to do regular housekeeping to ensure basic functionality remains performant.

If the operating system is architected in such a way that simply installing things (you know, one of the main reasons to have a computer) degrades the performance of basic functionality, that’s a problem with the operating system.