If you’ve been using Linux for 20 years that makes sense, as I have a lot of applications I used on windows that are not available on linux and have no alternative in any repo or flatpak, only as weird little projects on github (that don’t work half the time). So I’ve spent a lot of time trying to replicate a resemblance of my work flow and QoL luxuries. Your work flow has been refined over that 20 years with little windows influence.
Check out immich, I use that self hosted and it’s exactly like Google photos. It even has optional facial recognition.