Like 2 days ago I decided to try pop_os on my main again. Way better than September. Enough for me to be able to tolerate the quirks. But still bugs here and there to the point I wouldn’t recommend it to most users. Maybe by the end of the year
I can see Bazzite keep growing from interest in streamlined console experience Linux gaming. Pop_OS probably won’t grow again until after Cosmic DE is better. It’s not so bad now but still a number of annoyances and bugs. Once it’s stable it can contend better again as a gaming and general consumer centric distro. Mint is solid so no surprises that it can quietly grow
Path of least resistance is at the electronics store and general support from marketed software. So lack of Linux hardware in stores and lack of well marketed software
20 years ago Apple at least had store presence and had their own software as major draws, Final Cut Pro, GarageBand people loved, and really as a brand MacBook’s are/were fashionable
Linux is widespread in software development and data science. It’s mainstream draw is still developing. Could be games. It could maybe someday be seen as the choice for content creators if the selection of media creation/editing continues to improve and have their Blender/Krita rise. Talking like Kdenlive, Ardour, GIMP, etc