Linux in the form of Chrome OS seems to be capturing a lot of market share lately. Likewise Linux is also by no small margin what runs of most people's mobile phones or tablets. And the remaining ones run a fruity flavor of BSD. So most of what users is using is already unix and most of that is in fact Linux. MS is of course still pushing their own kernel but they seem to be insisting on that less when it comes to servers and all but gave up on mobile.

The problem with 'traditional' linux distributions is not Linux the kernel but the notion of window managers and other stuff that just isn't very good or user friendly. With Chrome OS, basically Google decided to cherry pick Linux for stuff that they could use/savage and scrap/replace the rest. Given how successful they are with that approach, I'm very confident in predicting that KDE vs. Gnome is never going to end in a victory for either. At least not in the form of world dominance. If anything, I see a lot of techies using alternative, lighter weight window managers. Even the target audience is opting out of using either.

Elementary OS looks like straightforward rip off of OS/X before they dropped the whole aqua look. That is to say a bit dated, not very original, and not that impressive or tempting to me.