If you're referring to desktop Linux, it's very much not this way, for the last 5 or so years.

Installation Just Works unless you're dual booting, in which case it Just Works until Windows updates and overwrites boot files because it assumes it's the only OS installed. Drivers Just Work as long as you're not using some obscure hardware. Installing apps Just Works. Anything web (and let's face it, that's a lot of things nowadays) Just Works.

The only times when "rumor has it someone made it work" happens, that I've come across, is running a subset of Windows games in wine. Specifically, games that use invasive client-side anticheat (eg, EAC, which loads a kernel driver to do its snooping).

There have been calls made with the PinePhone hardware, it just needs some more integration and we're having some issues with call audio on the speaker on the pinephone.