I think you're talking about generic Linux distributions without a corporate backed concerted and invested effort into it succeeding. A Linux based Steam conso

I think you're talking about generic Linux distributions without a corporate backed concerted and invested effort into it succeeding. A Linux based Steam console OS is a very different beast, and it's less about "the year of the Linux desktop", and more about "the year/decade of the Steam based console". And my assumption is that the underlying OS is probably meaningless despite the amount of effort Valve devs have put into Steam OS, Proton, and all the other intermediary pieces. If the Linux desktop gets better in the process it's probably a happy coincidence, but I doubt it very much that is an actual KPI for anyone at Valve.