Stories about "Linux as the underdog" have confused me for several years. The truth is, Linux has won, and it's OK to recognize that.
The majority of phones sold are "Linux phones" -- it's the kernel for Android!
The top selling laptops for years provide "Linux on the desktop" -- Chromebooks run ChromeOS, which is Linux!
Nearly all host servers, at nearly every cloud provider, run Linux. The vast majority of cloud VMs run Linux.
The vast majority of set-top boxes, IP cameras, IoT controllers, and other embedded devices are Linux based.
Linux is even powering an autonomous helicopter on MARS, that has been wildly successful in its mission.
The narrative of "poor underrated Linux gets no love" was plausible until maybe around the mid-2000s. But it's long past time to drop this idea as a community.
Now, I think it IS fair to say that several forms of userspace ecosystems, based on the Linux kernel, have failed to get traction over the years. Maybe we can say "Ubuntu Touch" failed to get adoption, but that has little to do with some characteristic of Linux itself.
Google is absolutely itching to replace the last GPL component of Android – Linux – with their own software, Fuchsia. Google will then control the whole stack, with no obligation to anyone. This has been coming for a long time; IIUC, Android started with many components from the larger GNU/Linux ecosystem, but today only Linux itself remains.
Linux is pervasive because it's free (gratis) and flexible, but customers aren't necessarily seeing the core benefits of the Linux philosophy in terms of liberty and privacy. These examples of Linux succeeding are where some sort of application stack is very non-libre and often non-gratis, but maybe that's just one example of how to commercialize Linux. It's a generalized and well supported base for commercial products and services that is less restrictive and costly than other OSs, which is why we saw it replace server Unix distributions and even Windows Server in some cases. Many companies are embracing open source and extensibility more and more, though, which is definitely a good thing.
I'm interested to see a stronger focus on privacy and liberty in consumer Linux products like smart devices and IoT. Somehow iOS/MacOS, a markedly closed system, is the only one that really seems to be going in that direction right now.
A kernel that isn't exposed to userspace, POSIX and Linux syscalls are not public APIs on Android, which is composed of Java userspace and a well defined set of NDK APIs.
Any application that tries to use private APIs might be killed by Android Sandbox infrastructure.
As such Google can replace it by something else, e.g. Fuchsia, and app developers won't even notice that the kernel has changed (ART is being ported to Fuchsia).
Then on IoT space, the competition from BSD licensed POSIX clones is heating up, most OEMs don't want any GPL tainted OS on their devices, just in case.
The kernel isn't useful alone. I am 90% happy with my macOS. Its kernel is not as good as Linux, but it runs all my unix apps. I can use free, mature software solutions for most of my needs; E.g., I use mpv and a WiFi-connected HDD to listen to music. (With a much more pleasant playlist creation UI thanks to ugrep and fzf.)
The majority of phones sold are "Linux phones" -- it's the kernel for Android!
The top selling laptops for years provide "Linux on the desktop" -- Chromebooks run ChromeOS, which is Linux!
Nearly all host servers, at nearly every cloud provider, run Linux. The vast majority of cloud VMs run Linux.
The vast majority of set-top boxes, IP cameras, IoT controllers, and other embedded devices are Linux based.
Linux is even powering an autonomous helicopter on MARS, that has been wildly successful in its mission.
The narrative of "poor underrated Linux gets no love" was plausible until maybe around the mid-2000s. But it's long past time to drop this idea as a community.
Now, I think it IS fair to say that several forms of userspace ecosystems, based on the Linux kernel, have failed to get traction over the years. Maybe we can say "Ubuntu Touch" failed to get adoption, but that has little to do with some characteristic of Linux itself.