Yeah, I don't think it should be the one that succeeded, but it was and I think that opportunity is over now, sadly. Chromebooks don't seem to last very long.

There are ways to make a Chromebook run Linux -- https://vkc.sh/linux-on-a-chromebook-but-interesting-er/ -- but I doubt a lot of this was of interest to the vast majority of people using a Chromebook.

Windows is for gamers. macOS is for creatives. Both appeal to developers in different ways.

Linux doesn't really have a compelling user story. If you care about software freedom, maybe you use Linux, but there are so many different distros out there that it's hard to know what most people would even use Linux for at all. I finally stopped trying to use it as a desktop in 2021 and haven't looked back.