Has a Linux update ever broken something on my computer? Yes. Have I ever needed to revert versions? Yes.
Has a Linux update ever broken my computer so badly, that a hardware component on the motherboard had permanently stopped working, even after reinstalling firmware? No, but a windows update did once. I had to dual-boot Mint just so I could use WiFi.
So, wait, you are claiming that a Windows update broke your hardware so bad you had to reinstall the firmware, but it magically worked on a linux distro? First of all, that means it wasn’t “permanently stopped [from] working”. Second, I hate to break it to you, but it sounds like Windows might have fucked up a setting, and then you user-errored your way into breaking things. I’ve never had something break that can’t be fixed with a full system restore or reinstall, and it sounds like you had a problem just like that. If it worked on Linux, you could have gotten it working on Windows, too, because it’s clearly a software error at that point.
Also, Windows is catching up on the breaking of things, while Linux has improved dramatically. At least some distros are incredibly stable.
Has a Linux update ever broken something on my computer? Yes. Have I ever needed to revert versions? Yes.
Has a Linux update ever broken my computer so badly, that a hardware component on the motherboard had permanently stopped working, even after reinstalling firmware? No, but a windows update did once. I had to dual-boot Mint just so I could use WiFi.
So, wait, you are claiming that a Windows update broke your hardware so bad you had to reinstall the firmware, but it magically worked on a linux distro? First of all, that means it wasn’t “permanently stopped [from] working”. Second, I hate to break it to you, but it sounds like Windows might have fucked up a setting, and then you user-errored your way into breaking things. I’ve never had something break that can’t be fixed with a full system restore or reinstall, and it sounds like you had a problem just like that. If it worked on Linux, you could have gotten it working on Windows, too, because it’s clearly a software error at that point.