Linux people don't want you to "not use Linux", they want you to see that wearing a burlap sack is good for your soul, then you'll embrace it wholeheartedly on their terms. The computing world is as tribal as the USA's Red/Blue[1] arrangement, but the origins of the tribes and the polarisation of opinions are as if perfectly tuned to avoid Linux on the Desktop.

The people who like Linux for its customizability and modularity see user friendliness as removing options, and prefer the side of more difficult but more configurable. Or wouldn't object to friendliness if there was zero cost, but have no personal need for it and so no interest in supporting it or developing it, or don't believe that's possible. Some crossover here with a certain kind of neuro-atypical who sees a BNF grammar dump as a user friendly help message, and believes Linux already is user friendly.

Two of the more vocal sub-tribes are the complexity fetishists and the 37337 hax0r / V for Vendetta user. One takes their sense of self and identity from being visibly clever and able to use Linux and sees people who cannot as inferior morons, the other takes theirs from the counter-culture and sees people who don't use it as pathetic sheep normies. Both vehemently object to the "dumbing down" or "commercialisation" aspects and the accompanying loss of self identity. If anyone can use it, using it isn't a sign of being clever or special; normalising it so your mom could use it would be like making 4chan friendly so your mom could use it, or McDonalds opening a Burning Man stall, or getting Linus Torvalds to tone down his communication style, totally embarassing and unthinkable. Taking away what both groups like about it. Overlaps a lot with the "if it was easier to use, I wouldn't get paid as much to use it, and I'd have to work with morons because only morons like easy to use things" sysadmin sub-tribe.

The anti-Microsoft user is another vocal subtype, whose sole reason for decision making is the polar opposite of whatever Microsoft would do. Ease of use is not bad per-se, it's bad because Microsoft claims to value it. NO progress vectors that lead towards Microsoft are allowed, except (curiously) slavishly making cargo-cult copies of surface level Windows dressing hoping to entice the mysterious "users" to come. When they are freed from Microsoft (or Apple), surely they will see the light, accept mud huts and rejoice.

The Stylites[2] are principled idealists, if Linus Torvalds can have no interest in GUI distributions, or Richard Stallman can use a Holy text-only system for years, that's what we should aspire to. Ease of use is a sinful temptation towards vice. Say three Hail Mary's, your mantra is "but POSIX" and "The UNIX way". Minimailists join here, change your mantra to "Ed is the standard editor".

The least controversial is the pragmatic open source developer, in Mac world they can charge money for small utilities and do and make them nice to use, in Windows world some charge and some are free, in Linux world they can't charge and ease of use and documentation take more effort and time, and nobody is paying for that, so ease is often left as an afterthought.

And people who value free-as-in-beer who will put up with anything if it saves a buck, they're already running Linux on hardware they got from eBay, or Windows because it came with their computer, and have no other requirements. Nice would be nice, as long as the 3D effects runs fast on an S3 Virge DX and don't cost money. Also covers people who can't afford alternatives who also live by "Nice would be nice, as long as the 3D effects runs fast on an S3 Virge DX and don't cost money" but for different reasons. Also covers the majority business use - I'm not paying for (a webserver, a database, a fileserver, an IDE, a compiler, etc (but I will pay Oracle licensing)).

Less principled idealists. People who object to proprietary corporate things - use of binary blob drivers, companies like Adobe getting involved in offering proprietary software, compromises with media companies about codecs, closed file formats, things that would make Linux on Desktop more palatable but at too high cost.

Somewhere in there is a single user who paid for SUSE.

On the other tribe sides, people who like simplicity or the appearance of it, people who can and will pay, people who don't mind the norm, people who don't need to show off complexity, people who don't object to proprietariness, the desktop user market, who value convenience and comfort, who are pragmatic, or want to get things done without caring about how, are using macOS, Windows and Chromebooks.

Linux on the Desktop depends on Linux becoming something else, taking on characteristics which go against why these tribes gathered in their respective groups in the first place. From the Linux polarised side, the desire isn't for "Linux on the Desktop" but for popularity and approval and good hardware drivers. Much, much better if you change, you can have Linux on the desktop right now, simply deal with video codecs, audio problems, worse trackpad, use a Thinkpad, use keyboard shortcuts, change the software you use, change your values, change your beliefs and your priorities and you will see the Linux Desktop you seek is right here waiting for you, today, you can have it, and better, the suffering is good for you! It doesn't feel like suffering at all, it feels righteous, principled, superior!
Windows/macOS users wouldn't object to Linux on the desktop if it was like Windows/macOS, but then again if it was the same, why bother switching, where's the advantage? Neither side wants Linux to change to become a desktop os - one side loses everything, the other side gains nothing. One side wants people to change en-masse, the other side is disinterested in the whole thing.

It needs millions of Windows and macOS users to be forced onto Linux against their will, then strive to use their money and effort to make it into the things they've lost, at which point there will be a distro Linux tribes dislike. Or, for Microsoft to make Winux under the business "I'm not paying for that" motivation, which will also result in a distro Linux tribes dislike.

[1] https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/27/book-review-albions-se...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylite

See also: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anythin... and that Greg Egan story I can't find where people wake up one day with a kind of telepathy where they start to take on the beliefs of the people physically close by, and form local tribes around strong attractor ideas, and the main character is a wanderer trying not to be caught up in one, and it took me years to realise it's not Sci-Fi and is observing how people behave normally without telepathy.