Linux is free
Linux is open
Linux was designed to be small when it needed to be
Linux has historically suffered from insufficient accepted talent to compete with user interfaces on Mac or Windows. Even attempts from window managers to borrow from Windows and Mac had missed the mark for decades.

Windows is paid
Windows is closed
Windows was designed to fuel schools and corporate America
Windows paid UX people and tried to make a comfortable experience for everyone … until they didn’t

For years, Linux distros mostly did their own thing, trying to be good enough to use.
Linux is now close enough to the Windows/Mac desktop experience that every misstep Big corporations make will just push people into open source.

I suspect that within the next decade or so there will be many attempts to pass laws to keep open source out of the public’s hands.