And this, precisely, is why Linux has failed to date

you dont realize android et al are based on linux, andriod activations each day = 1.3 million.
you add up windows & mac OS (& possibly IOS etc) and its prolly less than that

Any notion that Microsoft [Windows] is losing popularity however does not seem to me to be well founded

well founded? Its proven! check statcounter.com for data, esp western countries.
Personally though I think windows is the best OS, I only use a mac cause Im developing for IOS

And this, precisely, is why Linux has failed to date

you dont realize android et al are based on linux, andriod activations each day = 1.3 million.
you add up windows & mac OS (& possibly IOS etc) and its prolly less than that