Yes. First off, I use recycled hardware and treat computers as durable equipment rather than consumables. Performance matters on older equipment. My Lenovo T61 (C2D) laptop is now ancient at 8 years. While originally responsive, it is now painfully slow to boot and run Win 7 + Avast + Firefox (the partition still gets booted at least once a year). It remains quick to boot and very usable with Debian/Openbox/Tint2/Firefox (an evolution from CrunchBang). I have been running linux exclusively for 3 years, and dual booting systems for more than a decade before that.
Second, I am also a tinkerer with a desktop composed of both very conventional and very unconventional elements and features. I have a custom python hot-corner interface (with hot edges too); I have customized and contributed to tint2; and I often use a highly modified version of HTML
webkit_app_bar (xdaks at deviantart) to prototype and experiment with alternative interface elements inspired by other interface designs. (I know I could learn LUA and use conky, but I am already proficient with HTML).
I find Win7 highly usable and recommend it to friends with the caveats: expect slow performance on older hardware and don't ask me how to use it or fix it because I haven't used Windows as a daily driver for more than 3 years. But if they want to try linux, I am glad to shepherd them through Mint Cinnamon/MATE, LXLE, or Xubuntu.
@edbarx: as in Ed Bark, TVWW writer?