Nope, you just misread my comment

Those are terrible comparisons. The amount of people using SDR and X11 still is gigantic, the amount of people using USB tethering is… not.

You’re couching it as Linux “killing desktop features”, when really it’s just Linux removing one ancient, insecure driver for which there is a modern, secure alternative. And it’s not like Linux is wiping the driver off the face of the planet. If you want to reintroduce the ancient, insecure driver back into your system, there are extensive instructions on compiling your own kernel with whatever you want in it.