As previously mentioned, GNU/Linux was originally intended to be a small project for Linus Torvalds, something he worked on whenever he had free time. It was built in an era where the computer market was already well-defined, but that didn't hinder its growth; in fact, the exact opposite happened.
GNU/Linux gained popularity in a difficult transition for businesses who where moving from paper-based records to digital systems. At the time, modernizing was a massive risk because of expensive investments and difficult hardware maintainence for experimental and niche hardware.
The biggest struggle was "vendor lock-in": if a company chose a digital path, they were trapped by proprietary architectures that cost a fortune to support. Due to this, innovation and development was made expensive, something that made standardizaion hard to achive.
The arrival of GNU/Linux changed the pace of digital adoption forever. By being a universal and open-source system, it could be adapted to nearly any machine. It allowed companies to escape expensive hardware contracts and finally take full control of their own digital infrastructure.
Other than having incentivized industries to modernize their infrastructure, GNU/Linux has found enthusiasm and consensus from developers, engineers, and power users who enjoy experimenting: one of its main advantages is the ability to adapt the whole system to the user's need; if pre-existing options don't satisfy their requirements, they are free to build their own environments from scratch.
Thanks to the openness of such an eco-system, both in terms of hardware compatibility and software development, the community has always been keen on refining the core engines of the system. This experimentation helps to keep the whole project always ready for every request, even for the most unknwon devices.
This is perhaps one of the most difficult topics to discuss because, despite being a project that interests a wide group of people, there remain those who are hesitant to switch from a familiar environment (like Windows or macOS) to something entirely new. Usually, GNU/Linux alternatives are discovered because of the declining quality of mainstream operating systems: needless to say, the companies behind those systems struggle to hide such reality.
Because of the interest shown by those who want to take action against the worsening of the product they use, many modern distributions are prioritizing user-friendliness. They aim to be as intuitive as possible for the influx of newcomers who, frustrated by their current systems, are eager for the "taste of freedom" that GNU/Linux famously promises.